Flame of the west
by Luke4444
Summary: Hestia is more important than people give her credit. What happens when she must act to save civilization? Fem!Percy (sort of), no pairing yet
1. Chapter 1

The Flame of the West

I do not own PJO or any of Ricks work.

**Hey there! Well, I gathered enough courage to write this and its better than I expected it to be. Tell me what you think, I like to hear other people's ideas of what they would do and it might kick my muse in the #$% to get going and help me. I know that there are a few 'Hestia/Vesta is Percy's mom/adoptive mom' stories and from what I see most leave something to be desired, so I'm trying to make a decent one (not that there aren't good ones, but there are a few not so good ones)**

**I welcome critical reviews and PMs that give me ideas and advice, I will ignore flames (so don't do that, it won't do anything) and I personally don't flame others (well, I did one time, but that was because what the "Author" was "writing" was insulting to other authors and to readers. I think I lost an IQ point from reading it.)**

**Also, I have heard of Authors being personally insulted, their family being insulted, and Authors and/or their families being threatened. I won't have that either. I treat people courteously and expect the same treatment in return. You don't like that? too bad, so sad, don't read it.**

/Line Break/

Hestia, first child of child of Kronoss and Rhea, goddess of the hearth and family, the former 12th Olympian council member sat, absently prodding the hearth that was the heart of Olympus. It seemed no one under stood the true meaning of her hearth. When people spoke of the flame of the west they were literally speaking of her hearth. Without her careful tending of the flames what both mortals and immortals knew as civilization would collapse into naught but ash. The two Olympians whose domains were intimately tied to her hearth, Athena and Hephaestus (being that inventiveness and craftsmanship were the sure signs of the west) were the only ones who suspected her importance, although Poseidon probably had a good guess. Just because his children were usually not the sharpest sword in the armory [some part of her thought that Athena cursed his line to not be as smart…probably because of that nasty medusa affair] didn't mean the god himself was as dense.

A part of her always questioned the wisdom of giving her seat to Dionysus. Seriously, how was alcohol and insanity more important than family and the blazing heart of the west? What right did he have to partake in the leading of western civilization? But as always she understood more than the rare self-important feelings she inherited from her… sperm donor (she refused to call that _thing_ her father). She understood how their actions would affect the west –in a sense it was like prophecy, she could tell the path they should follow to sustain and even grow the flame, she also knew what would endanger it. Her stepping down was a necessary evil to travel that path. And her flame had endured. But now she was faced with a troubling choice. Unlike her nephews' "gift" of prophecy, what she foresaw was less frequent and more definite. Because if one of his prophecies went unknown to those who could affect it or would be subject of it, then in all likely hood it would never happen (this wasn't always true but in most cases it was). If what she was shown in her hearth- as only she could see such things in its flames-came to pass with no action or the wrong action was made... well, bad things would happen.

There were three options that she was shown.

Do nothing and the flames of the west would go out with no hope of reigniting. That _was not_ an option; the fall of the Western Roman Empire was a terrifying time for all of Olympus. If the eastern empire had also fallen with the west then many of the gods would have faded or worse: be forced to merge with other pantheons, and the Germanic gods to the north of their original domain weren't very friendly (and the Egyptian gods didn't have the best of relations with them either).

She needed the big three gods, preferably Poseidon, to have a demigod once again. His children had the better temperament and least damning faults of the three brothers children (Orion was an exception, he was more like his cousin Heracles)

The final option had the best ending but many, many trials had to be endured by the subject of this "prophecy", and that broke her heart beyond imagining. She always cared for the demigods and helped where she could to make their lives more comfortable; it pained her to watch them suffer because they were her family. And while the demigod of the second option would face many of the same troubles this one struck closer to home. Because it was **her** child. It would be her first child to ever walk the earth and they (she could not foretell the gender) would go through many tribulations to reach happiness should she give birth to them (even so, that happiness was not assured, only a possibility). There were also the consequences of breaking her vow should the child be created like most demigods. She as a goddess might be reduced to being a mortal, a clear sighted mortal if she was lucky, but that would be as close as she would be to her family ever again (there was also the possibility of time served in the pit, but that hadn't happened since the first immortal broke an oath on the Styx. And when she got back she never was the same again). The child also would suffer; their scent would attract monsters like a druggy to a stock pile of meth and make whatever tasks the flame required that much harder. And though Hestia didn't know _what_ her child would go through, she did know there would be many tasks they would have to endure. And as much as Hestia would love to have a child she wouldn't want to put them through that.

This was a hard choice for her; she just hoped she had enough time to decide.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own PJO, Rick does

/Line Break/

Hestia heaved a sigh. She came to the conclusion to have her own child. After much deliberation and thought it came down to if she wanted to manipulate her favorite brother, Poseidon, into having a child or if she wanted to bear the burden of one herself. That's not to say she never 'manipulated' her family before. True she never really forced them into things, they always could walk away, and one example was that she led Hades to one of his lovers, Maria Di Angelo. She didn't force/coerce them to be with each other, she merely asked a favor of hades to pick something up for her and the two ran into each other, it was Hades that decided to pursue a relationship. She didn't know all the results her actions would yield, but the flames had asked her to get the two acquainted, and she did so.

But she was never comfortable doing such things.

But now the problem was how would she get around her oath? Athena was able to skip around her oath, she had brain children, but that was due to the circumstances of her own "birth". Artemis had her huntresses, but that wasn't really having her own children; that was more like adoption. Hestia was still pondering how she could have a child when it struck her. Prometheus had created humans out of earth; maybe she could create one of fire. Now it was all about timing when to make the child.

/Line Break/

It was the final hours of the summer solstice, and all but one citizen of Olympus had retied to their palace to sleep off the food and drinks (it seemed that even the gods could get wasted, go figure). Hestia, as soon as she was sure she wouldn't be caught, began to form her child. She took some of the flame of the west, and mixed it with her blood to give the flame flesh. She continued to shape her child throughout the night and finished just before the solstice ended. This was important, because the flame was strongest now; at the peak of summer, when the light was stronger than the dark. And it was on this night that the flame of the west was given form in the shape of Hestia's first child: Kenna Pyrrhus

/Line Break/

**Okay, so, this is a very small chapter but I need to start small. I decided to make a female Percy because I want to, and don't complain about the name change, that name is very symbolic (cookies to anyone who can tell me its significance). This story is now, officially, AU. It **_**will**_** differ from cannon, though I'll try and keep Kenna like Percy as much as possible. My updates, as much as it pains me as a fellow reader, will be SLOW. I'll have to reread the books and write stories that are similar, but original and maintain the best quality I can manage. I will probably make mistakes, especially because Kenna is a girl and I'm a guy (it might also be because I'm new to writing).**

**Also, I WANT REVIEWS! I can't make improvements without advice and opinions. Reviews also tell me people are interested in reading, SO MAKE SOME REVIEWS ALREADY! The button is right down there at the bottom, click it.**

**Okay, rant over. Have a nice day!**


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own PJO

I NOT SO ACCIDENTALLY VAPORISE MY ENGLISH TEACHER

Life is such a strange thing; sometimes you love it, sometimes you hate it, and sometimes its rushing by so fast you just don't know what to think.

If for you this is just fiction, life is perfectly normal for you and you can believe none of this ever happened, read on. I never liked normal people anyways.

But if you recognize yourself in these chapters- feel a strange urge on the inside- stop reading and have a talk with your parent; they probably know what to do.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

My name is Kenna Pyrrhus. I'm twelve years old, and up until a few months ago, life was getting pretty darn boring at Yancy Academy, a private school for "troubled" kids in upstate New York.

Am I a troubled kid?

Well according to my school record, yes.

I can start at any point in my short, yet interesting life. But things _really_ kicked off last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan- twenty-eight mental kids and only TWO teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at Greek and Roman artifacts.

I know most kids would groan at the very thought of looking at shards of pottery, but I loved it.

And with Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher (surprisingly enough he seemed to teach more about Greek culture than Roman), leading the trip, it looked like today would be great. Mr. B was this middle-aged guy in motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and wore frayed tweed jacket, which smelled like his morning cup of Joe. Not exactly Mr. Cool guy by the looks of him, but he told stories and jokes and even let us play games in class. He had this awesome collection of armor and weapons, so he was one of the few classes I bothered to stay awake in.

I hoped for a great day, at least without me somehow getting in trouble.

Sometimes, I hate my luck.

See, field trips and I don't get along too well. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battle field, I accidently set off one of the cannon and took out the school bus. I wasn't aiming at the bus, but I still got expelled. And before that my fourth-grade school went to sea world, and well, let's just say sea creatures and me don't mix well and leave it at that. I think you get the idea.

This trip, I was determined to be good.

All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, a freckly, ginger kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich chunks, disgusting.

Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny, cried when he got frustrated, and had confidence issues sometimes. He might have been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin (although Nancy had a mustache that looked pretty developed). On top of that he seemed to be crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE the rest of his life because of a muscular problem in his legs. He walked like every step hurt him, but it didn't fool me. He would put most short distance runners to shame **if** there was an enchilada bar at the end of the track.

Anyway, Nancy was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with in school suspension if anything, and I quote "bad, embarrassing, or mildly entertaining" happened on this trip. Or I could have been paraphrasing, but you get the gist of it.

"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled. Now, I'm not usually a violent person, but when you threaten my friends and those I consider family, my fuse gets much shorter.

Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."

He dodged another wad of disgustingness on bread.

"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.

"You know you're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."

Looking back on it, I'm glad I didn't deck her on the nose right then and there. Life would have stayed boring if I did.

Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.

He rode up front through the big echoing galleries, past beautiful statues and glass cases full of Athenian pottery.

It warmed me up inside to see all these relics of the past, it gave me a sense of continuity. He gathered us around a huge column with a large sphinx on the top, and started telling us that the grave marker, or _stele, _was for a girl our age (how they got permission to basically take a tombstone from its matching grave is beyond me). I was trying to listen to what he was saying because it was interesting, but everyone around me was talking, and every time I told them to be quieter, the other chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would glare at me.

Mrs. Dodds was this little English teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she looked fifty years old. She looked like she would drive a Harley into your locker for a late book assignment. She had come up to Yancy half way through the year, when our last English teacher suffered a nervous breakdown (I think someone flushed his copy of _Hamlet_ down the toilet)

From her first day she decided that Bobofit was a perfect angel and I was demon-spawn (although my crimson red hair and fiery eyes didn't help that any). She would point her crooked finger at me and say all sweet-like, "Now, honey", and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month (okay so it was a week and a half, but you get the idea).

One time, after she made me erase notes out of old textbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked me right in the eye, completely serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."

Mr. Brunner kept talking about the various types of funeral art when Nancy snickered about a naked dude on the stele. I whipped around and said "Will you _shut up_?"

Yeah, it kind of came out louder than I meant to.

The whole group laughed, and Mr. Brunner stopped his story.

"Anything you'd like to add Miss Pyrrhus?"

My face soon matched my hair in color. "No, sir." I said.

Mr. Brunner gestured to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"

I looked at the carving, and felt relief rush through me. I recognized it. "That's the Titan king Kronos eating his children, the gods."

"Yes," Mr. B said, obviously not completely satisfied. "And he did this because…"

"Well, Kronos was told that his own children would over throw him, like he had his own father. So he decided to eat his children, and there for save his throne. But his wife, Rhea, hid her sixth child, Zeus, by feeding Kronos a disguised rock. Later Zeus ticked his father into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"

"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.

"-and there was a war between the gods and the Titans," I continued," and the gods won"

There were some snickers in the group around me.

Behind me Nancy mumbled to a friend (how she had any, I don't have a clue) "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'please explain why Kronos ate his kids'"

"And why, Miss Pyrrhus," Mr. B said "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted," Grover muttered.

"Shut up," Nancy hissed, now it was her face that went red.

At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.

I thought about it for a bit, and answered "It tells us that greed for power only leads to your own demise?"

Mr. Brunner looked positively ecstatic about my answer. "Excellent Job Miss Pyrrhus! Full credit! Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"

The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, and the guys pushing each other around and acting like morons, as usual.

Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Miss Pyrrhus."

I told Grover to keep going, and turned back toward Mr. Brunner, "Sir?"

Mr. Brunner had this look in his eyes that wouldn't let you go, his intense brown eyes looked a thousand years old and had seen everything.

"I don't think you fully understand my question," Mr. Brunner told me.

"About the Titans?" I was surprised; I thought I got full credit.

"About real life," he corrected "and how your studies apply to it."

"Oh."

"What you learn from me," he continued, "is of vital importance. I expect you treat it as such. I will only accept the best from you, Kenna Pyrrhus."

Now most dyslexic kids with ADHD would be upset at this. But I liked it. It gave me a goal to strive for, and showed, in a teacher's special way, that they cared about you. I hadn't gotten that from most of my teachers, they drew the line when they found out I was dyslexic _and_ ADHD. Just gave up trying to help someone they considered un-teachable. I promised to try even harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been to the girl's funeral, then he told me to go back outside and eat my lunch.

/Line Break/

The class had gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. Overhead there was a storm brewing, with clouds blacker than I've ever seen over the city. I figured it was global climate change (global warming in layman's terms), because the weather's been acting like it was the end times or something since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes; I wouldn't be surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.

Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with lunchables crackers. Nancy was trying to pickpocket an old lady's wallet, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds was oblivious to it.

Grover and I sat on the edge of a fountain, away from the crazy lunatics that made up our class. Despite my… unfriendly relations with things that live in the water, the element itself never bothered me, even helps me calm down some times.

"Detention?" Grover asked.

"Nah, not form Mr. B," I said. "that old horse just wants the best out of me."

Grover gave me a funny look and didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he'd go all philosophical on me to make me dwell on Mr. B's words he said, "Can I have your apple?" I laugh and toss it over to him. I watched the stream of cars and people going up and down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's flat just a little ways uptown from where we sat. I haven't seen her since Christmas break. I was so close, just a quick ride in a cab and I'd be home. She'd hug me and be so happy to see me again. Then she would say she was disappointed that I skipped school and send me back with a kiss and a hug. Even with Yancy being my sixth school in six years I'd still give it my all, not just for me, but for her.

Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while reading a paperback version of the Iliad (You'd think the Latin teacher would rather read the Aeneid) and had a red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized café table. I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends- apparently she was tired of pickpocketing tourists.

"What do you want Bozotwit?" yeah, made that one up myself.

She sneered at me before she dropped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap with a _splat!_

"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange; it was like her face had suffered from an explosion of liquid Cheetos.

I tried to keep calm; to cool off like the councilor said 'count to ten, get a hold of your temper'. But I was so mad my vision went red and there was a roar of a wave in my ears.

The next thing I know, she's in the fountain, soaked head to toe, and screaming "Kenna pushed me!"

In an instant it seemed Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. The other kids were beginning to crowd around the fountain, but still keeping their distance.

They were whispering: "Did you see-"

"-the water-"

"-like it grabbed her-"

I didn't know what they were talking about, but I did know I was in big trouble; again.

As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to buy her a new shirt in the gift shop, blah, blah, blah, Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant gleam in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester for. "Now, honey-"

I heaved a sigh of resignation, which she didn't take too kindly to.

"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.

"Wait! It was me. _I_ pushed her."

I stared at Grover, stunned. I almost didn't believe my ears; he was scared to death of Mrs. Dodds. And he just volunteered to be punished by her, _for me._

But all Mrs. Dodds did was glare at him as his whiskery chin trembled.

"I don't think so Mr. Underwood,"

"But-"

"You-_will_-stay-here"

Grover looked at me desperately.

"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."

"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "_Now_"

Nancy Smirked, and I gave her my, I'll-kill-you-later© glare. When she visibly flinched I turned back to find Mrs. Dodds Standing at the top of the steps, by the museum entrance, gesturing impatiently to hurry up.

How'd she get up there so quickly?

I have moments like that a lot, when my brain seems to miss a step, and the next thing I know I've missed something. The school councilor told me this is part of my ADHD, but sometimes I'm not so sure…

As I went after Mrs. Dodds I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted him to notice, but he was too absorbed by his book. I looked back up to find Mrs. Dodds had already made her way inside.

_Okay,_ I thought, _she's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy._

Well apparently not, because she kept going into the Bronze Age section. Except for us, we were alone in the gallery. (Isn't there something in the school rules prohibiting that?)

Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Olympian council (which didn't include Hades if you didn't know), and she sounded like she was growling at it.

Even with the noise I wasn't too nervous. As terrifying as she sometimes was I knew she couldn't punish me too much, at least legally, but the way she looked like she wanted to pound the frieze to dust made me wonder…

"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.

I did the safe thing and complied "Yes, ma'am."

She tugged on the cuffs of her jacket, like it was too small for her liking. "Did you really think you would get away with it?" She had an evil look in her eyes.

"I'll try harder ma'am" Thunder shook the building, the storm outside must be nasty if it's thundering like that.

"We aren't fools, Kenna Pyrrhus," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of before we found you out. Confess, and you'll suffer less pain."

At first, I thought she was talking about how I was selling notes and book reports to the lazy rich kids, it's amazing how much you can scam rich kids for, but when she mentioned physical punishment I realized we were on totally separate pages. Or maybe one of the kid's parents was a mob boss and put a hit on me. Did I ever tell you I have a vivid imagination?

"Well?" she demanded.

"Ma'am, I don't think…"

"Your time is up," she hissed.

As soon as she said that my body tensed, adrenalin started pumping, and my eyes seemed to see every little twitch in Mrs. Dodds body. She started to get slightly shorter; her eyes began to glow like coals, her fingers stretched into talons. Her jacket melded with her body to form leathery wings. She wasn't human; no she was much, much worse. She was a shriveled old hag (at least more so than before) with bat wings, yellow fangs, and she was ready to slice me to ribbons.

Then things got even more interesting.

Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a few minutes before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery with… is that a bracelet?

"What ho, Kenna!" he shouted, and tossed the bracelet through the air. At the same time Mrs. Dodds lunged at me. I rolled to the side and sprung up in time to snatch the bracelet out of the air, but it wasn't a bracelet any more. In my hand I held a sword (A/N: I want to make this point clear: YOU DON'T PRONOUNCE THE W IN SWORD!). It was Mr. Brunner's Bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day (again, you wonder why a LATIN teacher has a GREEK style sword. Come to think of it, shouldn't it be illegal to bring a sword in school in the first place?).

Mrs. Dodds spun towards me with a murderous look in her eyes.

A was shaking slightly, whether out of fear or excitement I couldn't tell.

She snarled "Die, honey!" and flew right at me. I saw the muscles twitch in her right arm and moved down & in to my left (her right) and swung at her exposed right torso as she rose her arm to strike.

There was a hiss as the blade sliced clean through her side as if she was a sandbag. Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a tornado; she exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of… evil in the air, as if those two glowing eyes were still watching me.

And I was alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Look, I know the last chapter was taken from **_**The Lightning Thief**_** almost verbatim, but the changes start small and I'll try coming up with original material down the line but I need a starting place I can work from.**

**Anyways, if you're wondering why I put the note on pronunciation of sword, well my mom and I argued the point and she still won't admit she's wrong even after we looked up the pronunciation online and after we asked a sword smith himself (or the various movies that also prove me right)**

**Oh, and just so you know this story is rated T, meaning there will be minor use of swearing. Just a heads up**

**I don't won PJO, you blood sucking lawyers (Please don't sue me)**

_Last time on FotW:_

_She snarled "Die, honey!" and flew right at me. I saw the muscles twitch in her right arm and moved down & in to my left (her right) and swung at her exposed right torso as she rose her arm to strike._

_There was a hiss as the blade sliced clean through her side as if she was a sandbag. Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a tornado; she exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of… evil in the air, as if those two glowing eyes were still watching me._

_And I was alone._

**Life gets stranger every day**

I walked out of the museum, still in a slight shock. Who wouldn't be? If your teacher turns into a bat-thing and then tries to kill you, you'd be in shock too. As I walk out I feel a sudden shift in the air, like something just changed. I shake it off as changing air pressures from the storm. Speaking of the storm, it had started to rain when I came back outside. Grover was sitting by the fountain still, a map tented over his head. Mr. Brunner was still at the base of the ramp, he had finished his celery (he moved on to an apple) and was still reading his paperback. Nancy was standing a good five feet from the fountain, still soaked to the bone from her little swim, scowling and grumbling to herself and her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

I stared at her, wondering what I missed. Not seeking to look like an idiot, I kept walking back to Grover and sat down next to him, the rain not bothering me a bit.

What Nancy said was bothering me, who in the hell was Mrs. Kerr? I decided to ask Grover who Mrs. Kerr was

"She's our English teacher."

But I still had adrenalin in my system, and I saw his nervous twitch: a small vein on the side of his neck showing briefly, and a small, barely noticeable twitch in his left eyebrow. Not to mention the fact he wouldn't look me in the eye.

"Grover"

"Yeah?" he asked, curious as to what I was going to say next.

"I don't appreciate it when my best friend lies to me." And he visibly flinched with guilt.

"I...I…I can't tell you, it's for your own g-good you don't know. Please, just…let me sort something out, and we'll talk about it. Okay?" I gave him a hard stare then nodded. He sighed and we ate the rest of our lunch in silence.

**/Line Break/**

I found out that Mrs. Kerr was this perky blond woman who, upon seeing and hearing her, I thought was addicted to happy pills.

I asked a couple more kids about Mrs. Dodds, but they were all convinced they never met the woman and that Mrs. Kerr had been our English teacher since Christmas.

If it wasn't for Grover's terrible lying skills, and the fact I still had the bracelet that seemed to turn into a sword (I decided to check it out later, and slipped it on my wrist), I would have gone crazy. Something was going on, and I was going to find out what.

When we got back to school we went back to our dorms for the night, and Grover said he'd let me know when we could talk.

As soon as I walked into my dorm, I locked the door behind me. See, at Yancy they had the boys share their dorms, the girls did too, but I was the odd one out and got a whole room to myself.

I liked it that way.

I sat on my bed and stared at my recently acquired bracelet. It was bronze, like the sword was; only it looked different than bronze normally did. It seemed to glow with an ethereal light, and it was lighter than actual bronze would be. I looked at the mesmerizing patterns on the bracelet. It looked like intertwining flames all around the outside, and the inside looked like a wave pattern of sorts. The only thing that really stood out was a bright ruby.

Curious, I ran my hand over the gem and it seemed to glow brighter for a moment, before dimming back down. My eyebrows rose at this, and this time I clenched my hand on the gem. The bracelet shimmered and then quickly morphed into the same beautiful blade it was before.

My eyes went wide, and I dropped the sword in shock. After a few moments it reappeared on my wrist as a bracelet again. I repeated the grabbing motion I did before and the bracelet was once again a sword. The blade was three feet long, and glowed in the dim light of my dorm room. The cross guard had the same flame and wave pattern as the bracelet, the grip was a soft leather that conformed to my hand perfectly, and the pommel was that same ruby gem as the bracelet. It really was a beautiful sword, and I stared at it for what was probably an hour and a half before decided to put it away. I found that pressing down on the gem returned it to bracelet form. Then I crashed down on my bed, too exhausted from the days events to change into PJ's or take off the bracelet.

**/Line Break/**

For the rest of the school year things went back to normal; normal for Yancy anyways.

I continued scamming the rich kids for notes and such, really, it was all too easy, and it was like they had no sense of business whatsoever.

I never served that in school suspension, in fact, Nancy had to serve one when Mrs. Kerr caught her digging in her purse (Finally!).

On a stranger note, one night a thunderstorm blew out the windows of my dorm room. And a few days later, the largest tornado ever seen in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles away from Yancy Academy. In social studies, one of our current events was the unusually high number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic this year. I felt slightly anxious, the weather seemed highly suspect to me, and I couldn't help but think Mrs. Dodds was connected somehow. The bracelet's cool metal seemed to help calm me down, though how a magical sword/bracelet could do that I had no idea. At one point it seemed like Mr. Brunner was going to take it back from me, but he didn't; he just carried on about conjugating verbs and talking about all the different ablatives. One day though I felt vary irritable, and when my pre-algebra teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me why I was too lazy to pay attention in class, I snapped. I pointed out that I already knew what he was teaching today (I studied ahead in math, it was one of the few subjects my dyslexia didn't bother me at all, the numbers and variables all looked like they should), and then called him an old sot.

The headmaster didn't like that. He sent my mom a letter; I would not be coming back to Yancy next year. Fine, I thought, just add another expulsion to the tally, I was homesick anyways.

I wished to be with my mom in our flat on the Upper East Side (A/N: I don't know if there are any flats in that area, I'm not a New Yorker), even if I had to go to public school and deal with our slob of a neighbor.

And yet… there were things I was going to miss at Yancy. Like the view of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, and the smell of the pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been one of the few good friends I had, even if he was a little strange.

I'd miss Latin class too- Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I'd do well.

As exam week got closer, my work load doubled, not only for my studying, but for the extra notes I made for other students (and because it was exams the price tripled, and they paid just so they could pass). I hadn't forgotten Mr. Brunner's warning that his class was life and death for me, and Mrs. Dodds proved that beyond a doubt. Even though I had yet to have that talk with Grover, I understood enough to understand that Mrs. Dodds was a monster like in Greek and Roman Mythology, though I couldn't tell which. Which begged the question of how much of myth was actually fact?

The evening before exams I was reading _Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology _when my dyslexia started kicking in. The words floated of the page doing 180's and cartwheels, making the whole page a giant word scramble. And as hard as I tried the words wouldn't unscramble, before long I wasn't able to tell the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces, at least spelling wise. I started pacing, I knew this was important, but it was just so damn frustrating not being able to read it like everyone else.

I remembered Mr. Brunner's thousand-year-old eyes. _I will only accept the best from you, Kenna Pyrrhus._

I took a deep, calming breath, and picked up my mythology book.

It'd been a long time since I asked a teacher for help. Maybe Mr. Brunner could help me sort things out, and maybe answer questions about Mrs. Dodds and the bracelet.

I walked down the stairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, the light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.

I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover said "… worried about Kenna, sir."

I froze.

I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but you try and ignore a conversation about yourself.

I inched closer.

"… alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean a kindly one in the _school!_ Now that we know for sure, and _they_ know too-"

"We would only make matters worse by rushing her," Mr. Brunner said "We need her to mature more."

"But she may not have time! The summer solstice deadline-"

"-will have to be resolved without her, Grover. Let her enjoy her ignorance while she can."

"Sir, she saw her, she…"

"…will think it's her imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince her of that."

"Sir, I… I can't fail my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's worry about keeping Kenna alive until next fall-"

I dropped my book in shock. It made a THUD, and Mr. Brunner went silent.

My heart started hammering in my chest. My fight or flight instinct kicked in, and I went with the latter.

I picked up my book and ran down the hall, before ducking into an empty room. A few seconds later and I heard the clip-clop of someone coming down the hall. Then there was a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.

A bead of sweat trickled down my neck. Somewhere in the hallway Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."

"Mine neither," Grover said "But I could have sworn…"

"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've a long day of exams tomorrow." Grover groaned

"Don't remind me."

**/Line Break/**

The next afternoon as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eye's swimming with all the Greek and Latin names I misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.

For a moment, I thought he'd found out about the night before, but it seemed that wasn't the problem.

"Kenna," He started "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's…It's for the best."

The tone of his voice was kind enough, but the words… they cut deep.

"Okay, sir" I mumbled.

"I mean…" Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, looking like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."

My eyes started to sting; here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After all this time, saying he believed in me, now he was talking to me like I was destined to get kicked out.

"Right" I choked out, starting to tremble.

"No, no," Mr. Brunner said "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say…you're not normal, Kenna. That's nothing to be-"

"Thanks!" I blurted out, "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."

"Kenna-"

But I was already out the door. I went to my dorm room and started packing my things haphazardly into my bag. Stuffing most of my money into a side pocket I grabbed the straps and stormed to the pay phone. Exams where done, and I wasn't going to stick around for tomorrows Greyhound.

I was finally beginning to calm down when I spotted Grover following me. I ducked around a corner and when he came within reach I pinned him to the wall. He yelped and struggled till he saw it was actually me.

"Kenna, what's-"

"What's going on?" I growled. "I want to know that too. And now you're going to tell me; so spill."

His lips quivered a little before he said in hushed tones "Okay, okay, I'll tell you, just not here. You were going to call a cab right?" I nodded "Great, we'll go to your house and talk about it there. How's that sound?" he said a little desperately. I looked him in the eyes, looking for any deception. Finding none I let him go.

"Sorry about that," I mumbled, "bad day ya know?" he nodded a little before following me to call a cab.

**/Line break/**

**Okay, hopefully that was original enough for you, if not… well tell me what you think and maybe my muse will get some ideas.**

**I will admit to there being some ideas mirrored here from other stories, like the bracelet/sword idea, but I'm trying to add my own style to keep from copying too much. If you think I'm infringing on another person's ideas too much let me know so I can fix it.**

**To those who are wondering about Kenna's connection to water, you'll see why later.**

**Tell me what you think about Kenna at this point, I don't want a Mary Sue going on here so tell me your opinion.**

**I haven't gotten many reviews, and that makes me sad****. Don't you like me? I'm just kidding, but seriously, review. The button is right down there, click it.**


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own PJO

**You're a what?**

_Last time on FotW:_

_His lips quivered a little before he said in hushed tones "Okay, okay, I'll tell you, just not here. You were going to call a cab right?" I nodded "Great, we'll go to your house and talk about it there. How's that sound?" he said a little desperately. I looked him in the eyes, looking for any deception. Finding none I let him go._

"_Sorry about that," I mumbled, "bad day ya know?" he nodded a little before following me to call a cab_

**/Line Break/**

We waited out in the parking lot of Yancy Academy. After a few more moments Grover spoke

"You're pretty terrifying when you're angry, you know that?"

I laughed, and silently thanked him for his ability to break the ice so easily.

"Well if it's any consolation, I'll buy you some enchiladas when we get the chance, how 'bout that?" he smiled, and nodded vigorously, which made me laugh again.

Soon, the cab arrived and we were talking and making jokes like we had before Mrs. Dodds went bye-bye. It was nice to relax again. Eventually we made it back to my building, me and my mom's flat was on the top level and somehow we also got to use the roof as a patio when it was warm enough outside.

We started to go up the steps, but we were stopped by my 'neighbor' on the third floor. He stood (slouched was more like it), blocking our way up.

Gabe Ugliano was the sorriest excuse of a man I ever, if you could even call him a man. If you could dress a walrus in thrift store cloths, you'd have a good idea of what he looked like, and he had what little hair he had left combed over his scalp. The man reeked of moldy pizza, garlic, and Budweiser. He never worked, he supposedly managed a convenience store, but I think he just collected from people who owed him money. And how would you owe money to the pig? Well, he had a little gambling ring going on, and whenever he needed money he would intimidate the other tenants of the building into 'loaning' him cash, even the building superior. The only people he never got money from were me and my mom, of course, that didn't stop him from trying.

"You're back early" he grunted.

"Yeah, I am. Can you move please? I've got things to do."

"Now see, I can't let you do that. Eddie said you have been skipping payments; I'm here to collect for him." I knew it wasn't true. My mom never missed the rent; her job at the Empire State Building paid her pretty well. And besides, Gabe had used this excuse on me before, the last time I was here in fact. If he didn't remember that then he must have been stupider than I thought.

"Gabe, go steal candy from babies, or whatever you do with your free time; I got to get home."

He glared at me, before deciding he wouldn't get a cent out of me, and left. I sighed in relief, and we continued to my floor. When I opened the door I saw my mom, busy with cooking dinner.

A word about my mom, before you meet her,

Her name is Pele Pyrrhus, and she is the kindest, most loving person that you will ever meet. It just proves my theory that the nicest people have the rottenest luck. Her dad was a terrible father and her parents went through a vary ruff divorce after her youngest brother grew up. Her "dad" (she refused to call him her father) got a life sentence in prison. Then, after her youngest brother took his job, he started appointing his siblings and children to important positions. Eventually she was forced off the board of directors by one of his kids. Yeah, what wonderful relatives I have. I never met any of my relatives on my mom's side of the family; quite frankly I'm not sure I want to.

The best thing that came out of it was me, she said.

She never mentions my dad, she acts like I don't have one, and I am perfectly fine with that. I don't have any memories about him, nothing at all. And as much as I would love to have a dad, I don't want one that just knocked up my mom and ran. At least that's what I think happened; she never says anything about it.

Like I said before, she works at the Empire State Building. She's busy most of the time, doing god knows what. When I was younger I constantly tried to make her take me to work, but she said she couldn't; the company wouldn't allow it. But from what I could tell she enjoyed her job, and that made me happy. 'Course that didn't mean I was lazy, she made sure I got a good work ethic doing all sorts of odd jobs to get my own income.

"Hi mom, I'm home!" She turned around and smiled brightly at me before engulfing me in a hug. Her crimson red hair in a neat bun on top of her head, and her fiery eye's glowing in happiness. That was one of the reasons I loved how I looked, I was like a younger version of my mom. I didn't have a single feature from my father.

"Honey, what are you doing coming home so early? I wasn't expecting you to be here till tomorrow." She paused, pulling back and looking me in the eyes. "Did something happen?"

She glanced over to Grover and her expression darkened, "It's time, isn't it?" she asked him. He nodded and she sighed. "Can you step outside for a moment? My daughter and I need to talk."

"Yeah, sure, I'll keep a look out." Grover looked at me, "Don't worry, everything is going to be fine. I'll fill you in where you need it." And with that he walked out, closing the door behind him.

My mom walked me over to the couch and sat us down. She took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes again "Tell me what happened; all of it."

And I told her everything. Mrs. Dodds, the amnesiac kids, Grover and Mr. Brunner's conversation, all of it. I think I toned down the fight with Mrs. Dodds a little, but not much. And when I mentioned I was starting to think the myths were real, her look darkened. At the end of it though, she just looked sad.

She heaved another sigh (she seemed to be doing that a lot today). "Kenna, I know this might hurt you, but know I didn't tell you before to keep you safe and that I love you very much." She paused, then continued, "The reason you have dyslexia, and why you're ADHD, is because those myths _are_ true." I stared at her, my eyes wide. If I was of a lesser constitution I would have feinted.

"Does that mean, th-the g-gods…?"

"Yes dear, they're real." She answered.

"And my father?" I asked, apprehensively. I mean, if my dad is a god, I can't exactly shout him out for dumping mom alone. _That_ would not end well.

"Oh, thank heavens no! It's a bit more… complicated, than that. At least for you it is."

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, getting confused

"Honey, you don't actually **have** a father, I made you. You're the first and only child I have, will ever have. I'm Hestia, goddess of the home and hearth, and you are a child of the hearth; made out of my blood and its flames."

"Huh," I said, my mind was going into shock, "You learn something new every day." and the world went black.

**/Line Break/**

**There, now **_**that's**_** original work. **

**I know people are checking out my story, so could you take some time to write a review please? I'm not a great author, there are a lot of people that are better than me, but I can't improve without critical reviews and PM's. Even just leaving a review saying **"I like what you're doing here, keep it up"** would be nice. I want your opinions.**

**Have a nice day**


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own PJO (or Ricks' chapter titles)

**GROVER LOSES HIS PANTS**

_Last time on FotW:_

"_Honey, you don't actually have a father, I made you. You're the first and only child I have, will ever have. I'm Hestia, goddess of the home and hearth, and you are a child of the hearth; made out of my blood and its flames."_

"_Huh," I said, my mind was going into shock, "You learn something new every day." and the world went black._

**/Line Break/**

As consciousness slowly drifted back to me I groaned. I felt the cushions under me shift a little and then someone started running their hand through my hair. I didn't need to open my eye's to know it was my mom. I sighed in happiness as she continued her calming motions. It had been a long time since I've spent time with my mom, and I cherished every moment we got together.

When, I opened my eyes she was sitting with my head in her lap, a smile that warmed me up etched into her face. Just then our previous conversation drifted back to me. Not a sudden rush of realization, just a calm flow into my mind.

"Mom," I asked, feeling like I was a little child once again, even more so if what my mom said was true.

"Yes, dear?"

"Are you a god?" I asked, feeling slightly nervous.

She smiled sadly at me before answering, "I'm afraid so dear."

I just sat there, soaking it all in. The gods, the myths, the heroes… the monsters, they're all real. It's hard to take in things like that; one moment your world is nice; organized, scientific, and logical. And the next, after just one, _tiny_ revelation, everything goes topsy-turvy. All in all, I think I took it pretty well, even with the feinting.

"What happens now?" she hummed in thought for a while.

"Your friend will take you to a summer camp, Camp Half-Blood. That's where the rest of our family is, well, the mortal ones at least. They'll train you up so you can take care of yourself in this world full of monsters." she stopped herself before she started rambling. "I'm sure they'll explain it at camp in more detail, just know that no matter what, I'll always love you." And she gave me a gigantic hug and I returned it just as fiercely.

"I just have one request of you dear." She whispered in my ear. I pulled back to look at her. "I need you to keep quite that I'm your godly parent, I'll need to talk with Zeus and the council to clear things up."

"Okay" my voice still seeming small to me.

She smiled warmly at me before letting go. "You can come back in now, Grover!"

He walked in shyly, closing the door behind him. "So, you two have your little talk? Good, we need to get going. I think they're starting to hone-in on us." He said, brusquely

"Who's honing in on us?" I asked, getting a bad feeling.

"Oh, I don't know who, not yet anyway, but I do know we got at least five monsters sniffing our trail. So if we could hurry up please?" he said, getting nervous and antsy.

I snatched my bag, gave my mom a quick hug & good-bye, and ran out the door with Grover. But before he made it out the door my mom called out to him.

"Grover," he turned around just in time to catch my mom's car keys, "Don't scratch the paint." She winked at him, making him blush, and closed the door.

We ran down the steps quickly, Grover's supposed leg disease not bothering him a bit. When we got to the street level I pointed out my mom's car; a hot rod red Ferrari, apparently being a god pays well.

"Kenna, your mom is awesome!"

"Yeah, I know."

**/Line Break/**

If you ever find yourself in a car with a nervous Grover, you should find yourself a helmet.

"Ow!"

"Sorry, red!"

Grover was a mad man on the road. He was making 90 degree turns' going 80mph, and that was when he was slowing down. On top of that it was raining heavily, how he knew where he was going, your guess is as good as mine. A left turn, and my head bashed into the window; again.

"Grover! If your driving skills don't kill you, I swear-" Right turn, "Ow! Damn it Grover!"

"Sorry! It should be strait now." Eventually the throbbing in my head went down enough to think strait.

"Where the heck did you learn to drive?!" he flinched a little, but kept his eyes on the road.

"The security guard at camp, Argus, taught me. Course I was using a van before."

"Yeah, well he's got like a hundred eyes so he can actually **see** where he's going!"

"How do you-"

"Grover, I read the myths for Latin class," I said, rolling my eyes (I wonder if Argus gets dizzy if he does that?) "Of course I know about him."

We were silent for a while, just watching the trees fly by. Finally I got bored enough to talk to him again.

"So… why couldn't I be told before?" I asked him. He glanced in the rear view mirror, even though we were the only ones on the road.

"Your mom told you that your dad is a god right?" '_No'_ I thought, but I nodded anyway. If mom didn't want everyone to know yet, I would keep that promise, even if it meant lying to my friends. "Well demigods like you have a scent that attracts monsters. The more powerful the demigod, the stronger the scent and therefore more monsters come after them."

"How is related to the need-to-know basis?"

"Hold your horses, I'm getting there." He sighed, "Well it turns out that if you know you're a demigod, and then your scent just doubles. Now you see?"

"Yeah, so what were you talking about with Mr. B before exam day?"

"That was you?" I nodded "Huh, maybe your dad's Hermes. Anyways, as much as I'd like to tell you, red, I'm not allowed to. And _that_ is on Olympus's orders, so I'd rather not get a mouthful of lightning bolt."

But just as he said that I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise. There was a flash, a jaw-rattling _**boom!**_ And our car exploded.

I remember feeling weightless, being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.

I pulled my face out of the air bag and muttered "Ow."

"Kenna!"

"I'm alright Grover…"

I shook my head to get out of my daze. Luckily the car hadn't actually exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch and the driver-side door was stuck in the mud. The roof was blown wide open and rain was pouring in. Lightning, we were struck by a freaking lightning bolt while driving, how unlikely is that? Grover must have jinxed us.

Speaking of, Grover was hurriedly kicking of his shoes and… taking off his pants? Sure enough, my best friend was shedding his trousers, showing off his fuzzy hindquarters and hooves.

I stared at him in shock. "You're a satyr." I stated. How could I not have guessed? His strange walk, the fact he still climbed stairs easily, that weird laugh he sometimes did. My friend was part goat.

"Umm, yeah, I forgot about that didn't I?" he said absently as he kicked out the front window. "Come on, camp's just over the hill"

I climbed out the wrecked car, careful not to cut myself up on the way out, and followed him at a fast walk.

The hill we were heading towards was still a good ways away from the car. It wasn't real tall, but it was steep and the rain would make it slick, which would make it harder for me to walk up it.

Suddenly though there was a roar, I turned around to see what might have made it. For a moment all I could make out in the gloom was our car and part of the road we were driving. Then there was another flash of lightning and I saw him. He was tall, at least 7 feet tall, built like a football player his top half bulky and fuzzy, and I could see two large horns.

"Grover-"

"I know! Run!" and we started booking it. While Grover had a head start, I had done track the past two years and I was soon close on his furry tail.

"We just need to make it past the pine tree!" he shouted over his shoulder, "That's the camp boarder; we'll be safe once we get over it." I looked a head, looking for a pine tree. It wasn't too hard to spot; it was the only pine tree on the hill. And I don't mean some sickly little Charlie Brown Christmas tree; I mean a big honking White House size tree.

We were only half-way up the hill when there was a loud scrapping sound, and another roar. The bull-man had picked up my mom's car and tossed it in frustration, it was only dumb luck that he threw it in our direction. It landed twenty feet in front of Grover where it promptly exploded. I instinctually covered my face with my arms as a wall of fire came at me, but nothing happened. My cloths weren't even singed. But apparently the explosion knocked Grover out, 'cause he dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Swearing under my breath, I grabbed hold of Grover and heaved his arm up over my shoulder. He was heavy, and my forward progress was less than half of before. We were finally within reach of the property line when I looked back to check on the monster. He was 15 yards away and gaining fast. I dumped Grover to the side and dove to my left to avoid being flattened by Mr. Beef. Barely a second latter he stormed through where I just was. He had to stop and turn, before he started to sniff around for me; apparently his eyes weren't so good. When he started trudging over to Grover, I got angry. I may not be on the best of terms with Grover for lying to me for most of the year, but I wasn't going to let him be crushed by some overgrown cow.

"Hey, ground beef! Over here you oversized-!" he let out a roar; a strange mix between a battle-cry and a moo. The bracelet, which I had completely forgotten about, started to get warm and I grabbed it. It transformed into its sword form and glowed in the night. The Minotaur seemed to get even more enraged by just the sight of my blade and charged at me. I tried jumping to the side again, but the bull had learned his lesson. He stretched out his arms to grab me and I ended up getting closed-lined. I landed on my back, the wind knocked out of me. I didn't give myself the chance to catch my breath; I rolled over and up on to my feet. I saw that the bull had gotten stuck in the pine tree marking the boarder and took my opportunity. I ran and climbed onto its back, using tuffs of hair as hand holds. By the time I reached its head it had dislodged itself from the tree, missing a horn. He thrashed his way and that, trying to throw me from his back. If you ever get to ride a mechanical bull it's a bit like that, only ten times worse. I managed to steady myself by grabbing onto his remaining horn. He paused slightly, giving me enough time to wrap my legs around his neck and secure myself better, while simultaneously choking him. He was swinging even more vigorously than before. I thrust my sword into his thick muscly neck, about where his jugular should have been. He reached up his arms and threw me off, but it was too late for him. Slowly, he started dissolving into dust, like Mrs. Dodds, and was blown away in the wind.

The rain slowed to a stop, but the storm still rumbled over in the distance. I smelled like a barn, my knees were shaking and I had a splitting headache. My chest still ached from getting closed-lined, but I still needed to get into camp. I managed to haul him up again and stagger over the border. I paid no mind as my sword morphed into a bracelet once more. The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan, circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern face of a familiar bearded looking man and the face of a pretty girl, her blond hair in princess curls. They both looked down at me, and the girl said "She's the one. She must be."

"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "She's still conscious. Bring her in side."

**/Line Break/**

**Hey there!**

**I'd like to thank the guest reviewer who left some advice, whoever you are, it's really appreciated.**

**Now I really need all of your thoughts on the fight scene. I know there is some way I can improve, so tell me how!**

**Have a nice day!**


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own PJO (bloody lawyers)

NEVER PLAY CARDS WITH HORSES

_Last time on FotW:_

_The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan, circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern face of a familiar bearded looking man and the face of a pretty girl, her blond hair in princess curls. They both looked down at me, and the girl said "She's the one. She must be."_

"_Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "She's still conscious. Bring her in side."_

**/Line Break/**

You ever get that feeling that you spend too much time unconscious? I do.

I know I've woken up several times, and I know I'm in some sort of medical facility, but everything is fuzzy. Maybe they're giving me meds to sleep more, or maybe that fight took more out of me than I thought. I wouldn't really know, the only times I've been to the hospital is Annual check-ups, and a sprained ankle. I've never spent a night in the hospital. I never really got sick either, which is kind of strange when you think of it; must be a demigod thing.

One of the times I woke up there was that blond girl again. She was spoon feeding me some sort of buttery food with the consistency of pudding, wiping up some that dribbled out my mouth. The thing is I remember eating something like that when I was little. Not a whole lot of it, but pretty often, I wonder what it was?

When the girl saw my eyes opening she was on me like pastrami on rye.

"What's going to happen at the summer solstice?" she demanded.

"What?" I managed to get out, just barely suppressing a chough.

She glanced around, as if someone was going to jump out and catch her

"What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

"I don't…"

There was a knock at the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with the pudding.

I fell asleep before I saw who was opening the door.

**/Line Break/**

The next time I woke up I thought I was still in la-la land (no, my dreams don't have unicorns and rainbows. That's just silly).

The girl wasn't there to stuff my face with pudding, but there was a blond surfer looking dude, and then his blue-eyed forearm blinked at me.

'_Huh, would have thought Argus to be a burnet' _I thought to myself before falling unconscious; again.

**/Line break/**

When I finally woke up, for good this time, I wasn't in the same room. I wasn't inside even, I was in a lounge chair, on a wood porch overlooking a flowering meadow with green hills in the background and a breeze carrying the smell of strawberries; it would have made a nice painting, especially if they could somehow capture the smell.

There was a blanket on my lap and a pillow behind my neck, making me somewhat comfortable, though my butt felt a little sore.

Off to the side, on a little table was a glass of what looked like apple juice and had a silly straw and a red paper parasol coming out of it. I stretched my hand out to grab it, and fell a half inch too short. Sighing I hopped my chair over a bit and grabbed the glass. The glass was big and a bit heavy; I almost dropped it when someone caught my hand and eased the glass over to me.

"Careful," a familiar voice said.

Once the cup was resting steadily on the arm of my chair I looked over to see Grover, leaning against the railing and looking like he hadn't slept a wink. Under one arm was tucked an old shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a neon orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD, in big black letters right on the front. No indication of his shaggy behind, but I knew I couldn't have imagined what happened; I may have a vivid imagination, but making up gods is a bit much.

"You saved my life," Grover said quietly. "I … well, it's the least I could do… I went back to the hill, thought you might like this."

Carefully, he placed the box on my lap.

Inside was the Minotaur's missing horn. It was black and white and the base of it was jagged and caked in dry, black monster blood.

"I would have thought it was bigger." I simply stated. Grover burst out in laughter, and a smile made its way onto my face. Eventually he calmed down though.

"Only you, red, only you." He said

"So, how long have I been out?"

"A day and a half now, you only had one broken rib, the rest of your injuries were bruises. Listen, how much do you remember?"

I paused before answering, "Enough to remember that you're a bad driver with a fuzzy butt." He snorted.

I looked back over the meadow; there were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on the top. That's better than what I expected from a summer camp.

Then Grover sighed and looked down at his feet- hooves, whatever- and he looked rather down

"Hey, why so glum?" I asked

He didn't look up; he just mumbled something and shuffled his feet.

"What was that?"

"I'm a failure. I was supposed to keep you safe all the way to the camp, and what did I do? I get knocked out and you almost get killed right at the camps boarders just like…" he was sweating, and started to hyperventilate. I reached out and grabbed his arm, his head spun to look at me and I tried to convey calming thoughts to him, my hand glowed slightly but Grover didn't seem notice.

Once he calmed down and his breathing went to normal I let go of his arm and my hands stopped glowing. He muttered a 'thanks' and we were silent.

"You should drink some of that. It'll make you feel better." He said, lifting up the glass for me and put the straw to my lips.

I recoiled at the taste, not because it was bad, but because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't bad at all. It was s'mores; liquid s'mores. And not just any s'mores, the s'mores me and mom make whenever we go camping; the sweet Graham crackers and the still melting chocolate. Drinking it my body felt warm and good, full of energy. I felt as if my mom was running her hand through my hair again, telling me everything was going to be just fine.

Before I knew it the glass was dry, and I was left wanting more.

"Was it good?" Grover asked. I just nodded.

"What did it taste like?" he sounded wistful it made me feel guilty.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Grover. I should've saved you some."

His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just…wondered."

"S'mores, fresh off the fire, like me and mom make." I said

"And how do you feel?"

"I feel like could smack the freckles right of Nancy Bobofits' face."

"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff."

"What do you mean?" I looked at the glass, trying to figure out why it would be harmful in any way. Then a thought struck me "Grover was that…"

"Come on," he said, gingerly picking up the glass like it was dynamite, and setting it back on the table "Chiron and Mr. D are waiting" he led me around the porch, which wrapped all the way along the farm house. My legs felt a little wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn and I told him he could keep it. I got it rescuing him anyways, he deserves it.

As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.

We must have been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I was shocked and amazed at all I could see. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like Ancient Greek architecture- An open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena- except that they were all brand spanking brand new! Their white marble sparkled in the sun. In a nearby sand pit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. There were kids in bright orange shirts, like Grover's, chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range, others rode horses down a wooded trail; some of them were even riding pegasi!

Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table, and the blond haired girl who spoon-fed me pudding was leaning on the rail next to them.

The man facing me was small and 'stout'. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it seemed purple. He looked like a middle-aged trailer park cherub. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would have fit in right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could out gamble everyone at Gabe's poker table.

"That's Mr. D," Grover said to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl over there is Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron…" He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.

First, I noticed he was in a wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, and the scraggly beard.

"Mr. Brunner!" I cried, happy to see another familiar face.

The old Latin Teacher turned and smiled at me. He had that mischievous glint in his eyes they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz, and all the answers were B.

"Ah, good, Kenna," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."

He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

"Uh, thanks, nice to meet you Mr. D." I scooted a little closer to Mr. Brunner, not sure how to handle a person with an apparent hang-over.

"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.

She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Kenna. Annabeth, my dear, could you go check on Kenna's bunk? We'll be putting her in cabin Eleven for now."

"Sure, Chiron." She said.

She was probably my age, maybe a couple inches shorter and a bit more athletic looking*. With her deep tan and curly blond hair, she looked almost exactly like I expected a stereotypical California girl would look like, except the eyes sort of threw that idea in the trash. They were a startling grey, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating too, like she were analyzing the best way the best way to take me down. She probably was.

She glanced at the Minotaur horn in Grover's hands, then back to me. I recognized the look in her eyes, like she was coming up with an insult to assert her authority, so I decided to head that right off.

"Nice to meet you, Annabeth, thanks for the help."

She blinked at me before nodding, and walked away.

"So, you work here Mr. br- I mean, Chiron?"

"Yes child, I'm the activities director here."

"Okay, so, just out of curiosity, what's the D stand for?" I asked, turning to the camp director

Mr. D stopped shuffling cards and looked at me as if I just belched loudly. "Young lady, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"I must say, Kenna," Chiron broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I made a house call to potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."

"Wait," I said, "You came to Yancy, just for me?"

"Indeed. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover sensed something special in you, and he alerted me immediately. So I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to… ah, take a leave of absence."

I tried to remember to the beginning of the school year, it was so long ago, but I did remember a different person teaching Latin the first week, and then he left, with 'Mr. Brunner' taking his place.

"Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, to let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though what Mr. D did to make him so visibly scared I don't know.

"You _do_ know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.

"I think I played when I was little, though it has been a while, sir." I said

He huffed, "well, as I'm sure you know, pinochle, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, is one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I expect all _civilized_ young ladies to know, and remember, the rules."

"I'm sure the girl will pick it up" Chiron intoned

Mr. D dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.

I decided at this point to play dumb; I just hoped Grover was too scared to call me out.

"Please," I said, getting my act on, "what am I doing here? Why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"

Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."

Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, like the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter how frustrated I got with the spelling and reading, _I _was his star student. He expected _me_ to have the right answer.

"Kenna," he said, "did your mother tell you nothing?"

"She said…" I paused, trying to find the best answer without lying too much "she told me that the myths we study are real, though she didn't say how much, but I knew the monsters were."

"Young lady are you going to bid or not?" Mr. D interrupted.

"Oh, sorry," made my bid

"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "Sad to say our usual orientation film just won't do." He sighed "Well, Kenna. You know that monsters like, you killed Mrs. Dodds and"-he pointed to the Minotaur horn-"the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lass. What you may not know, but I think you might suspect it, is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods- the forces you call the Greek gods-are very much alive."

I stared at him in mock disbelief, and just so you know it's _not_ easy to lie when you look into Chiron's eyes.

"Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" Mr. D cackled as he tallied up his points.

"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly. "If you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"

"Eh? Oh, all right."

Grover bit a huge chunk out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.

"You're saying God is real." I said

"Well, now," Chiron said. "God- capital _G_, God, that's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."

"But you were just-"

"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter." I still don't understand how that isn't metaphysical.

"Smaller?"

"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."

"But what about science?"

"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Kenna Pyrrhus, what will people think of your science two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what they'll say. Oh, I love mortals- they have no sense of perspective. They think they've come _so-o-o_ far. And have they Chiron? Look at the girl and tell me."

Yeah, Mr. D wasn't winning any friend points with me. And the way he talking about mortals… oh, gods am I stupid. Mr. D- Dionysus.

"Kenna," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe it or not, but the fact is that _immortal_ means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment; never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"

If you were most people, you'd say that's great. But when you think about it, it isn't so good. You watch most of the people you know ageing, dying, before your very eyes. And if there are other immortals with you, well, all relationships are going to be strained.

"Life would kind of suck, then."

"It's boring, that's for sure." Mr. D said

He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the light had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into a glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.

My jaw dropped, but Chiron barely looked up.

"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."

Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.

"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"

There was thunder.

Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass turned into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top, and went back to his card game.

Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his farther a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph that had been declared off-limits."

"A wood nymph…isn't that a bit hypocritical?"

"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time: Prohibition, that was ghastly! An absolutely horrid decade! The second time-well, she was awfully pretty, and I just couldn't help myself- the second time, he sent me here; Half-Blood Hill, a summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha! It's absolutely unfair."

Mr. D sounded like a pouting six year-old child, and he was how many millennia old?

He returned to his game. "I believe I win."

"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a strait, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."

I thought Mr. D would vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if this was a common occurrence. He got up, and Grover rose too.

"I'm tired; I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, _again_, about your less-than stellar performance on this assignment."

Grover's face paled and beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir"

Mr. D turned to me, "Cabin eleven, Kenna Pyrrhus, and mind your manners." He swept into the farm house, Grover following miserably.

"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.

Chiron nodded, though he looked a little troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job, he's been…ah, grounded, you could say. And he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus, other than for meetings and such."

"So, Mount Olympus, where is it now?"

"Well, the actual mountain is still obviously in Greece, but the home of the gods, which I think is what you meant; the convergence point of their powers. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect of the old ways, but the place moves, just like the gods."

"So it's here; in America."

"Well certainly, the gods move with the heart of the west."

I felt my heart jump a beat at that, for whatever reason.

"You mean western civilization?"

"Yes, it's not just an abstract concept, Kenna. It's a living force**; a collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are a part of it, you might even say they are the source of it, or at least, so intimately tied with it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western Civilization was obliterated. The fire started in Greece, then, as you well know, the heart moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, they had different names, perhaps- Jupiter*** for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."

"And then where did they go?"

"Oh, all over the place; they went to Germany, to France, even to Spain for a while. And they spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, and the most important buildings. And of course, they're here in the states. Look at your symbol; the eagle of Zeus, The statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greco-Roman facades of your government buildings. Like it or not- and believe me, plenty of people weren't fond of Rome, either- America is the new heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West, and so Olympus is here. And we are here."

Then he shifted his weight, as if he were going to stand up from his wheel chair.

"Come now, Kenna. There will be new friends to meet, and plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Be sides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."

And he did rise from is wheelchair, but there was something odd about the way he did it. The blanket on his lap fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, it looked like he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear. But then I realized it was the front of an animal, with muscle and sinew and coarse white fur. The wheelchair wasn't a chair; it was some sort of magical container, because there's no other way it could have held him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a polished hoof. Then another leg, then the hindquarters, leaving the box on wheels empty, and with a pair of fake legs attached.

I stared at my former Latin teacher who now had the body of a white stallion for his bottom, smoothly grafted where the neck of the horse would have been.

"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, Kenna Pyrrhus, let's meet the other campers."

**/Line Break/**

**Hey there!**

**Wow, I thought I would never make it through that chapter. **

**So there was a mix up that I want to address: someone thought Prometheus helped make Kenna. He didn't. Hestia was**_** inspired**_** by his idea to create people out of clay (earth) and made Kenna out of her own blood and the flames of her hearth. **

***-I made Kenna as healthy as Annabeth. Because she was fed perfectly wholesome food by Hestia most of her life (and the fact she was fed small amounts of ambrosia growing up might be a factor.), while Annabeth has been eating camp food for only five years or so. Oh and they are both relatively active (I said Kenna ran track for two years before Yancy)**

****this is the phrase that inspired me to make Kenna.**

*****fun fact, in Latin Zeus's name is actually Jove (Third declension, first person, singular: Iove). The romans eventually started calling him father Jove, or Iove pater, and lazy tongues turned that into Jupiter. Just thought you'd like to know.**

**Have a nice day!**


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own PJO

A note to all of you who might consider doing a PJO fic, Rick's work has a lot of sentence fragments (at least that's what Microsoft Word says)

**THEY REALLY SHOUD CLEAN THE BATHROOM**

_Last time on FotW:_

_I stared at my former Latin teacher who now had the body of a white stallion for his bottom, smoothly grafted where the neck of the horse would have been._

"_What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, Kenna Pyrrhus, let's meet the other campers."_

**/Line Break/**

In spite of the whole 'I'm part horse thing' the tour was nice, though I avoided walking behind him. I was a pooper-scooper for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a couple of times, and frankly, I didn't trust Chiron's rear-end.

We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed at me, and another said, "That's _her_."

Most of the campers were older than me, and their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt, with nothing else to cover their shaggy hindquarters. Now, I'm not normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me feel like a zoo animal.

I looked back at the farmhouse. It was bigger than I'd thought-four stories tall and sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when a movement caught my eye. There was a shadow in the attic window, something moved the curtain, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.

"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.

He looked up where I was pointing, and the smile dropped from his face. "It's just the attic."

"Does somebody live up there?"

"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."

His words seemed truthful enough, but the way he worded it gave me the chills.

"Come along, Kenna, lots to see."

We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played on a reed pipe.

Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays for our expenses," he explained, "And the strawberries take almost no effort."

He said Mr. D had that effect on fruit bearing plants: they went crazy when he was around. It worked best on grapes, but due to his restrictions that wasn't allowed. So strawberries it was.

As I watched the satyr play his pipes, bugs fled the field in droves, as if there was a fire. I wonder if Grover can work that kind of magic with pipes, I also wonder how Grover is doing with Mr. D.

"Grover isn't in too much trouble is he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean, he got me here. He's a good protector, really."

Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and set it on his back. "Grover has big dreams, Kenna, bigger than perhaps is reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper; finding a new camper, and brining him or her safely to Half-Blood hill."

"And he did that!"

"And I might agree with you, but it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see his mission as a true success. After all, you were injured before you got to camp, and then there's the fact he was unconscious when you two crossed the border. The council might question whether this shows any courage on his part." I wanted to protest, none of what happened was his fault, and none of it was in his control.

"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"

Chiron winced at that. "I'm afraid that _was_ his second chance, Kenna. The council wasn't anxious to give him that second chance, either, after what happened the first time five years ago. Olympus knows, I've advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age…"

"How old is he?"

"Oh, he's twenty-eight." And my eyes went wide.

"And he's still in sixth grade?"

"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Kenna. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."

"That must be torture!"

"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not vary accomplished in woodland magic yet. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career…"

"That's not fair," I said "what happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"

He looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"

I wanted to pursue the subject more, but I held myself back. If the panic attack Grover got earlier was any indication, the first time _was_ that bad, for him at least. Maybe that's the source of his confidence issues; I'll need to help him through that somehow.

"Come, Kenna. Let's see the woods" I was jogged back to reality; I hadn't realized I came to a stop during my thoughts. I ran to catch back up with the trotting centaur.

As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so thick, you could imagine what all the forests looked like before the Europeans came over. Damn Columbus.

"These woods are stocked, if you ever care to try your luck, but go armed."

"What keeps them from going into camp?"

"The wood nymphs take care of that, for the most part, confusing them and making them lost. They also can smell Dionysus's godly sent, which most monsters are afraid of. We also hold capture the flag here Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"

I held up my left arm, showing the bracelet he gave me back in spring.

"Ah, yes, I wondered what happened to that. I was given that for safe-keeping, I hope you use it well. It's called πύρκαταιγίδα."

"Firestorm" I answered automatically, and then blinked. How did I know that?

"Ah, I see you discovered one of the quirks to being a demigod. You, along with every other camper here, have an innate affinity for Ancient Greek words. Some take to it better than others, but that's to be expected." He said "Anyways you are still in need of a shield, hmm, or maybe just a dagger? We'll have you stop by the armory sometime."

And with that we continued the tour. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (Chiron didn't seem to like those too much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena, where they had sword and spear fights apparently.

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, yes. Cabin challenges and all that, they're not lethal, usually. Oh, and there's the mess hall." Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were dozens of stone picnic tables. But there was no roof and no walls.

"What do you do when it rains?" I asked

Chiron looked at me as if I'd grown a second head, "We still have to eat don't we?" I dropped the subject.

Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve cabins nestled in the woods, one for each Olympian god. It was arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in each row on either side. And not one looked like any of the others, except for a brass number over the door.

Hephaestus cabin (#9) had smokestacks coming out the roof of it, like a tiny factory. Demeter cabin (#4) had tomato vines on the walls and a roof mad out of grass. #7 seemed to be made of glowing gold; that was Apollo cabin. They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, littered with statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which kind of stuck out from everything else.).

And in the middle of it all there was a large stone-lined fire pit, the hearth. A girl that looked about nine years old was tending the flames with a stick. She turned to me suddenly and winked with familiar fiery eyes.

The pair of cabins at the head of the field, 1 and 2, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums. They were big, white marble boxes with heavy columns on the front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its' polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so from different angles lightning bolts seemed to arc across them. Cabin two was more graceful, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.

"Zeus and Hera" I stated

"Correct," Chiron said.

"Why does Zeus' look empty?"

"Several cabins are empty. That's true; no one ever stays in one or two."

It's starting to get on my nerves that he doesn't answer any of my questions directly or avoids them all together.

Cabin three wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, it was low, but long and solid. The walls were made of rough grey stone, with sea shells and coral, as if it was hewn from the sea floor. This must have been Poseidon's cabin. I felt a strange attraction to the building that I couldn't explain, and I found myself opening the door for a look inside.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that!" Chiron warned

Before he pulled me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like a breeze over an ocean beach. The interior walls glowed like abalone; there were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down but there was no sign that anyone had slept there for a long while. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Come along, Kenna." I heard Chiron say

Most of the other cabins were filled with campers though.

Number 5 was a bright red- the paint job was nasty and chaotic, like someone had splashed it on with buckets and fists. The roof looked like a scene from a WW1 movie with all the barbwire that covered it. A stuffed boar's head was mounted over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I saw a bunch of mean-looking kids, boys and girls, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe fourteen or fifteen; she wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. This was obviously Ares' cabin.

I kept walking, trying to avoid Chiron's hooves. "I haven't seen any other centaurs around here." I observed.

"No," Chiron said sadly "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric* folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."

"Um, Chiron?" I asked.

"Yes dear?"

"You said your name was Chiron, are you really…"

He smiled down at me. "…_The_ Chiron from the stories; trainer of Heracles and all that? Yes, Kenna, I am."

"But the myths say Heracles shot you with a poisoned arrow, you should have died."

Chiron paused, as if the statement intrigued him. "I honestly don't know if I _should_ be dead. The truth is I _can't_ be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted me my wish; I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needs me. I gained much from that wish… and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."

I thought about teaching a bunch of rowdy ADHD kids for all time. Not exactly on my top ten wishes list.

"Oh look," he said, "Annabeth is waiting for us."

**/Line Break/**

The blond girl I'd met back at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, cabin eleven. When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was re-evaluating how much of a threat I am after I out maneuvered her would-be insult. I tried to see what she was reading and I saw it was in Greek, it read: _the_ _Oxford Companion to Architecture._

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have master's archery class at noon. Would you take Kenna from here?"

"Yes, sir" she responded

"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the door way. "Make yourself at home."

Out of all the cabins at camp, only eleven looked the most like an old cabin, emphasis on _old_. The threshold was worn down and the paint was peeling. Over the door way there was a caduceus; a winged staff with two intertwining sakes.

On the inside it was packed with people, boys and girls, and looked way over capacity. There were sleeping bags littering the floor, which made it look like a gym where the Red Cross had setup an evacuation center.

Chiron didn't go in, the door was too low for him, but when the campers saw him they all stood up and bowed respectfully.

"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Kenna, I'll see you at dinner."

He galloped away toward the archery range.

I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They were staring at me, but not in the same way as Annabeth did. They were sizing up a newbie, it was just like school. I guess life is just cliché like that.

"Well?" Annabeth prompted, "Go on."

So naturally I stepped forward a bit, careful not to trip on the little floor board that stuck up a bit.

Annabeth announced, "Kenna Pyrrhus, meet cabin eleven."

"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.

I had no clue what they meant, but Annabeth answered for me. "Undetermined."

Everybody groaned.

A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. "Now, now, campers, that's what we're here for. Welcome, Kenna. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."

The guy was about nineteen, and he was handsome (Oh, hush you. I can appreciate good looks without going all mushy). He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scare that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.

"This is Luke," Annabeth said, her voice just slightly off. Glanced over and saw a slight blush on her cheeks. She saw me looking and quickly schooled her features. "He's going to be your counselor for now."

"For now?" I asked.

"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers after all."

I looked at the spot designated for me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as mine; my bag was destroyed with the car and I had no sleeping bag or pillow. I wouldn't set my stuff down anyways, because Hermes is also the god of thieves.

I looked around at the campers' faces, some were sullen and suspicious, some were grinning stupidly, and a few were eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.

"How long will I be here?" I asked

"Good question, until you're determined."

"How long will that take?"

There were a lot of cruel laughs around the cabin, but there were some who just stayed silent.

"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court." She grabbed my arm and roughly dragged me away. I could still hear the laughter in the cabin behind me.

When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Pyrrhus, you better do better than that."

"What?"

She rolled her eyes at me mumbled under her breath "I can't believe I thought you were the one."

"What's your problem?" I said, the frustration of the day catching up to me. "All I know is I kill some bull guy-"

"Don't talk like that!" she told me. "You know how many kids at this camp _wish_ they'd had your chance?"

"To get killed?"

"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"

"So that's what this is about; fame and glory? I thought you guys trained to _survive_, not to get best demigod of the year award! So sorry that I took your chance, maybe you'll get one next time" I shook my head and started to walk away, to keep myself from lashing out. She grabbed my arm again and yanked me around to face her, and I reacted. I conked her right on the nose.

Instantly she let go of me and brought her hand to her face. When she pulled it back there was blood.

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to punch you. Here let's get you over to the infirmary and take care of that." and I led her at a jog back to the big house.

**/Line Break/**

Once the bleeding had stopped we started walking back to the cabins.

"Again, I'm sorry. I've just been feeling frustrated today. First Mr. D was a jerk, and then Chiron was avoiding questions left and right, then there were people laughing at me. It just sort of happened."

"It's okay, I've had worse." She said, only slightly nasally. "and don't worry about the monsters either, they'll come back."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you can kill them, but they won't stay dead. You can dispel them for a while, maybe a lifetime if you're lucky, but they're archetypes of human nature. Eventually, they re-form."

"So if I, say, kill one with a sword-"

"The Fur-…I mean, your English teacher. That's right; she's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."

"How do you know about Mrs. Dodds?"

"You talk in your sleep. And you drool." I rolled my eyes.

"You almost called her something, a Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"

Annabeth glanced around nervously at the ground, as if the earth would split open and swallow us up. "You shouldn't call them by their names, even in camp. We call them the kindly ones, if we have to speak of them at all." Can't we say anything without worrying about thunder or something? But that sounded whiny, so I changed subjects.

"So why is cabin eleven full? I'm sure at least some of the other cabins would be willing to share." Her face paled.

"Kenna, you don't just choose whatever cabin you want. It depends on who your godly parent is."

"What if your parent doesn't have a cabin?" and she sighed

"Remember how Hermes cabin is so full?" I nodded. "Not all of those kids are Hermes' or undetermined. A lot of them are claimed, that's when a god declares you as their kid, and since their parents don't have a cabin, they stay in eleven."

"Then why don-"

"Hey look! A newbie!" a husky voice yelled.

I looked over, and there was the big girl from Ares' cabin sauntering towards us. She had three other girls, with similar looks, following her, and all of them had camo jackets.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish a spear or something?"

"Sure, Miss Princess," The big girl, Clarisse, said "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

"_Go to the crows!"_ Annabeth said in Greek, I barely noticed the change in language. I wasn't entirely sure how that was an insult, but it must have been a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. She probably wasn't so sure she could follow through with her threat. She turned towards me. "Who's this runt?"

"Kenna Pyrrhus, nice to meet you, we were just heading down to check out the armory. Want to come with?"

Clarisse looked at me, surprised, but before she could say anything her sisters (at least I think they're her sisters, half-sisters at least.) spoke up.

"We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Kennel!"

"Kenna"

"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you." The other girl said

"Jessie-" Annabeth tried to say.

"Shut it, wise girl."

Annabeth looked pained, but she stayed out of it, and I didn't want her help right now anyways. If I don't earn my own rep they'll just hunt me down more.

I shifted my foot back, ready to fight, but the Ares girl was more experienced than me, and before I knew it, Jessie had grabbed me by the base of my ponytail and was dragging me to the cinderblock building that I knew to be the bathroom.

I was kicking and punching. I hadn't been in many fights before, but this big girl Jessie had hands like an iron vice. She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking-as much as I could think with Jessie ripping my hair out- that if this place belongs to the gods, they should be able to afford a nicer johns.

Jessie and her half-sister was laughing (for whatever reason Clarisse had stayed behind), and I was trying to find the strength to get her off me, but it just wasn't there.

"Like she's 'Big Three' material," Jessie said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, the Minotaur probably fell over laughing, she's so stupid looking."

They snickered.

Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.

Jessie bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and crap. I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will _not_ go into that water. I won't.

Then something happened, I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing rumble, and the pipes shudder. Jessie's hand suddenly let go of my hair and water shot out of the toilet, arcing right over my head. The next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Jessie screaming behind me.

I turned just as water blasted out of the toilets again, hitting Jessie strait in the face so hard it knocked her to her butt. The water stayed on her like the spray of a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall. She struggled, gasping, and her friend started coming toward her. But then the other toilets exploded to life too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up too and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.

As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.

The entire bathroom was flooded, and Annabeth hadn't been spared. She was dripping wet, but hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock. I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes; Nothing.

I stood up, my legs shaky.

Annabeth said, "How did you…"

"I have no idea."

And I didn't. Mom said I was made out of her hearth, how the heck could I have controlled water, which is my polar opposite?

We walked out the door. Outside Jessie and her friend were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers (including Clarisse) came to gawk. Jessie's hair was flattened to her face, her jacket was sopping wet, and she smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of pure hatred. "You are dead, new girl; DEAD!"

"Could you be even more cliché? I mean seriously, that's just ridiculous."

Her friend had to hold her back, and drag her back to cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.

Annabeth stared at me again, this time with a very calculating look.

"What are you thinking now?" I asked worriedly

"I'm thinking," She said, "That I want you on my team for capture the flag."

/**Line Break/**

**Hey there!**

**I'd like to thank all my reviewers; your ideas and advice help keep my muse thinking. Even if your idea isn't used or done in the way you expected.**

**I'd also like to invite people with accounts to leave reviews. As much as I like guest reviewers (I used to be one) I want to be able to tell my reviewers apart from another.**

***the word barbarian comes from the Greek barbaros "foreign, strange, ignorant," from the Pre-Indo-European root: barbar- the echoic of unintelligible speech of foreigners. (Courtesy of **_Online Etymological Dictionary)_

**As stated in a previous A/N the reason for Kenna having water powers will be explained later in the story. So sit tight!**

**Have a nice day!**


	9. Chapter 9

I don't own PJO

**MY DINNER GETS FLAME BROILED**

_Last time I'm on FotW:_

_Annabeth stared at me again, this time with a very calculating look._

"_What are you thinking now?" I asked worriedly_

"_I'm thinking," She said, "That I want you on my team for capture the flag."_

**/Line Break/**

It turns out that camp is quite the rumor mill.

It wasn't long before word of the bathroom incident reached every nook and cranny. Even the wood nymphs got in on it. Every were I went campers pointed and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were staring at a sopping wet Annabeth. I liked to think the latter.

She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids, mostly Hephaestus', forged swords and such), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of Pan), and the climbing wall, which was made of two facing walls that shook violently, spewed lava, dropped boulders, and clashed together if you didn't finish fast enough.

Finally we returned to the canoe lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets, and for punching you."

"Whatever"

"No, seriously, you didn't deserve either of those."

She gave me a hard look, and then she said something that was completely off topic.

"You need to see the Oracle," Annabeth said.

"Oh, great, mystic mumbo-jumbo that could mean just about anything, that's just marvelous."

"I'll talk to Chiron for you; see if we can't arrange it."

"Thanks."

I stared into the water, wishing that I'd get a straight answer. I twisted the bracelet on my wrist absently, and it calmed my nerves.

I wasn't expecting anyone to be looking back at me from the bottom, so I gave a start when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, twenty feet below. They wore blue jeans, and shimmering green shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their head as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend. I waved back.

"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts, even with other girls."

"Well," I said, "I think it's safe to say life won't ever be boring ever again. Still, I miss home."

"Don't you get it, Kenna? You _are_ home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids us."

"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

"I mean not _human._ Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

"And half-god, I get it."

Annabeth nodded, "Your father isn't missing or dead, Kenna. He's one of the Olympians."

There was a silence before I decided to voice one of my earlier thoughts. "It's strange; to think the gods are still 'at it', even after so long."

"Not really if you think about it. Almost every story we have of the gods has them falling in love with mortals and making kids with them."

"So, who's your godly parent?"

"Cabin six."

I thought through all the cabins I saw today, and came up empty. "Sorry, I'm drawing a blank."

Annabeth straightened. "Athena, Goddess of wisdom and battle."

"Ah, well, that explains it then."

She gave me a look of indignation, which I ignored.

"So, I'm stuck here?" I asked. "For the rest of my life?"

"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay for the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you could get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounder's. We attract monsters in the mortal world. They sense us, and come to challenge us. Most of the time, they ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble, that's about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make it here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me; if I told you names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods, but there are very, very few like that."

"So, monsters can't get in here?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or someone specially summons them on the inside."

"Mostly practice fights, and sometimes a practical joke that's gone too far."

"A practical joke?"

"The point is; the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."

"So…you're a year-rounder?"

Annabeth nodded. From under her shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was exactly like Luke's, except she had a big gold college ring strung on it.

"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of the summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've got more than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."

"Why did you come so young?"

She twisted the ring on her necklace "None of your business"

"Oh," I didn't know what to say to that, so I tried to keep the conversation going "So… I could just walk out of here now if I wanted to?"

"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until then end of summer unless…"

"Unless?" I prompted her.

"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens the last time…"

Her voice trailed off, and I got the implied meaning; last time didn't end too well.

"Back in the sick room, when you were feeding me that stuff-"

"Ambrosia"

"Oh that's what that was? Huh. Anyways, you asked about the solstice."

Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you _do_ know something?"

I scowled. "No. back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it, something about a deadline. And then when I asked him about it later he said that Olympus had said to stay quiet about it. What's going on?"

She clenched her fists. "I wished I knew. Something is wrong in Olympus, something major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so _normal_."

"You've been to Olympus?"

Some of us year-rounders; Luke, Clarisse, and I and a few others-we took a field trip during the winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."

"So where is it, exactly? All Chiron said was that it was in America."

"The Empire State Building, they have a special elevator to the sixth hundredth floor." She took a deep breath, "Right after we visited, the weather got weird, like the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard the satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something was stolen, and that if it isn't returned by the summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came I was hoping… I mean- Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And then there's the whole Poseidon rivalry, but aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."

I shook my head. I wish I could help her, but I felt too tired and hungry to ask another question.

"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered. "I'm _not_ too young. If they would just tell me the problem…"

I could smell barbecue smoke coming from nearby. My stomach growled, and Annabeth told me to go on, she'd catch me later. I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail like she was drawing a battle plan.

Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed a lot of them had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. They were the kids that got teachers would peg as troublemakers. They must have been Hermes actual kids. Thankfully, nobody paid me much attention as I walked over and plopped down on my spot on the floor.

"Hey, nice to meet you." I turned to look at the voice and saw two Hermes kids that looked exactly alike.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Kenna."

"Nice to-"

"-Meet you Kenna." They said. I blinked at them for a moment

"Isn't that copyrighted?"

"What?" they asked in sync.

"The way you're talking. Isn't that copyrighted by J.K. Rowling?"

They looked at each other and shrugged.

Before we could continue our conversation the counselor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance too; it may have been marred by the scar on his face but his smile was intact.

"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I had some of the girls steal you some…ahem, toiletries from the camp store." He probably wasn't kidding about the stealing part, I figured.

"Thanks."

"No prob." Luke sat next to me, and pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"

I shrugged, "Could be worse"

"Yeah," he said "Believing in gods is hard. But believe me, once you do, it doesn't get any easier."

The bitterness in his voice surprised me; he seemed like such an easy-going person.

"So your dad is Hermes?"

He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a moment I thought he was going to gut me for asking too many questions, but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah, Hermes"

"The wing-footed messenger guy"

"That's the one, messengers, medicine, travelers. Merchants, thieves, pretty much anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."

"You ever meet your dad?" I asked

"Once"

I waited, thinking he would tell at least a brief story. Apparently not. I wondered if it had anything to do with the scar.

He looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Kenna. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family right? We take care of each other."

That bit warmed me up. Before, all it had been was me and mom. Now I had a camp full of family. Even stole me some toiletries, which was just about the nicest thing that happened all day.

I decided to ask my last big question, one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Jessie, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth… twice, she said I might be 'the one'. She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was all that about?"

Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."

"Pardon?"

His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I screwed things up for everyone else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hersperides went south, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he said he already knew her fate. He'd a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until…somebody special came to the camp."

"Somebody special?"

"Don't worry about it, kid." Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through her is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, its dinner."

The moment he said that, a horn blew in the distance.

Luke yelled, "Eleven fall in!"

The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard and ordered ourselves by seniority, which meant I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had started to glow silver as the sun went down. So that was probably Artemis' cabin.

We marched up hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow, naiads emerged from the canoeing lake, and dryads* came out of their respective trees.

In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted dryads and naiads (wood and water nymphs).

At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed with purple. Four tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded; I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.

I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, with a few satyrs, and a couple of blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.

Annabeth sat at table six with her siblings, a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with honey-blond hair and grey eyes.

Jessie sat behind me at Ares' table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends. Clarisse was a few places over, acting more reserved than her cabin mates, looking deep in thought.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue!

My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. It'll fill with whatever you want- so long as it's nonalcoholic of course."

I said "Cherry Coke."

The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid. I took a cautious sip and a grin spread on my face. Perfect.

"Here you go, Kenna," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.

I loaded plate with the meat, along the grapes, cheese, and bread. I was about to take a bite when I noticed everybody getting up, and carrying the plates to the fire in the center of the pavilion.

"Come on" Luke told me

As I got closer, I realized they were sacrificing a portion of their meal; the ripest strawberry, the juiciest piece of brisket, the warmest, most buttery roll.

"Burnt offerings to the gods, they like the smell."

I shrugged.

His look warned me not to take this lightly. He approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat grapes. "Hermes" he murmured.

I was next.

_Hestia._ I thought a little more and added,_ Hermes,_ for his hospitality. I scraped a slice of beef and some grapes in.

When I walked away I caught a whiff of the smoke.

It smelled nothing like burning food, it smelled like hot chocolate and brownies, hamburgers and wildflowers, and a hundred other things that shouldn't go well together but did.

When everybody got back and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for everyone's attention.

Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five currently holds the laurels."

A bunch of cheering came from the Ares' table.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you we have a new camper today, Kathy Perkins."

Chiron murmured something.

"Err, Kenna Pyrrhus," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered. We all headed down towards the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing along. We sang camp songs about the gods, ate s'mores, and joked around. The funny thing was I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt I was home.

Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into the starry sky, the horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't even realize how tired I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag. When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.

That was my first (conscious) day at Camp Half-Blood.

I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.

**/Line Break/**

The next few days I settled into a routine that almost felt normal, luckily getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a famous centaur of legend isn't boring.

Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was still a little awkward, but I was getting used to it. I discovered that Chiron was right, and I took to reading and understanding Ancient Greek like a moth to a flame. After a couple of mornings I could read most of the Iliad with only a few difficulties, which shocked the Hades out of Annabeth. So she moved me to the advanced class.

The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron taught me archery. I was decent, better than most of the other cabins, but I was way behind the experienced hands of some campers and the naturally gifted children of Apollo.

Foot racing? I was also good at, but the Hermes kids and Athena kids beat me by a bit (and every one lost to the nymph instructors, so I got a laugh out of that. We were out run by trees!).

Wrestling? Nope. Every time I got on the mat, I was pulverized by everyone. I was quick, but I couldn't get the leverage I needed to really do anything. And it was pretty bad when I faced Jessie.

"There's more where that came from, punk." She would mumble in my ear.

I did fine at canoeing, till the naiads decided to tip my boat, fucking water demons.

When it was Hermes cabin's turn to assist Apollo in the infirmary (Hermes _is_ the god of medicine, after all), I did amazing**. The people that I handled weren't serious cases (the best Apollo campers or Chiron took care of those), but they were taken care of quickly, and I discovered that I had the ability to calm people down. I couldn't, say, stop someone when they were downright angry, but I could lessen their temper a bit. Luckily no one else noticed.

I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, and I was pretty sure the Stoll brothers (the two Hermes kids who looked alike) were taking bets on me. They weren't having an easy time of it. I wasn't as strong as Ares' kids or as good at archery as Apollo's kids (though some still thought I was because of my healing skills). I might have been one of Hephaestus' kids, but while the heat of the forge didn't bother me much, I couldn't work metal to save my life. I didn't have away with vine plants like Dionysus does either. Luke said I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better (the sentiment was appreciated though).

But in spite of all the calculating glances, and inane questions about my home life that might clue them in on my father, I liked camp. I got use to the morning fog over the beach, where I started up my own running routine. The smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird sounds of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and sacrificed to my mom and another Olympian every night, even to Mr. D, out of respect. He gave me a strange look the night I did that one, but then he just ignored me.

After talking with a few campers I started to understand some of his frustration with the gods. I mean, sure they're busy (especially Poseidon, Hermes, Demeter, Apollo, and Artemis-not like she would come, she hates boys), but maybe they could take turns with Dionysus. Or maybe they could conjure a phone, like Mr. D did that can of Diet Coke?

On Wednesday afternoon, three days after I arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.

We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor they MacGyver-ed up (if you don't know who MacGyver is, and you own a Swiss army knife, you don't deserve it). I guess I did fine, it's hard to tell when the opponent doesn't fight back, but I did all the motions correctly.

We moved on to dueling pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.

"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

"Maybe he'll go easy on me, it's only practice anyways."

The camper snorted.

Luke showed me the thrusts and parries and shield blocks, the fast way. I with the first couple of swipes I was bruised and battered. Eventually I managed to keep up, but every now and then I would make a mistake. "Keep your guard up, Kenna," he'd say, after whapping me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. _Whap!_ "Just a little higher, Kenna" _Whap! _"Lunge" _Whap! _"Now, back".

By the time he called break, I was sweating like a pig, with a handful of bruises. Everybody swarmed the water cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like a good idea, so did the same.

The instant the water touched my head, I felt rejuvenated, and my sword-arm felt ready to go again.

"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Kenna here doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."

_Great_, I thought, _let's all watch Kenna get pounded_

The cabin circled around us, suppressing smiles. They'd all been in my shoes before, and probably couldn't wait to see me used as a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that they had no choice but to drop their weapon.

"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me, so no laughing at Kenna. Most swordsmen, and women, have to work years to master this technique."

He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion, and, sure enough, the sword clattered out of my hand.

"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my sword. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Kenna?"

I nodded, and Luke came after me.

It seemed like things slowed down slightly, and I saw Luke's muscles twitch in a manner indicating a thrust, so I sidestepped and countered. He blocked and tried a slash, which I also met. And it went on like that; I was able to see his strikes and countered, sidestepped, parried, whatever was required. Luke realized I was now evenly matching him and started to press me with more force. I responded by being quick and agile, moving around and trying to outmaneuver rather than overpower him. I started to feel the waters effects wearing off, but my adrenaline was going now, and I could maintain the fight without its help. But I knew Luke would eventually use his skill to outdo me so I used the water's advantage while I still had it.

I tried the disarming maneuver.

My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting all my weight behind a downward thrust.

Clang

Luke's sword was on the ground, rattling against the stones. The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.

The other campers were silent.

"Umm…"

For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak. Then his scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Kenna, that was amazing! Show me that again!"

I complied, but the energy burst that the water gave me was gone. This time, we were much more even than when I started training, but Luke still had skill and practice on his side. My sword went clattering down. After a long pause someone said, "Beginner's luck?" Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said, "But I wonder what Kenna could do with some more practice…."

**/Line Break/**

**Hey there!**

**Sorry this one took longer. I went to the renaissance fair down in Bristol, Wisconsin, so I didn't have time to finish this chapter Saturday.**

**And to the guest reviewers, lighten up! It's not like I'm going to ignore you, I just want to be able to **_**reliably**_** tell the difference between reviewers. But if you give yourself names, and use them consistently, that's good too.**

***the term Dryad actually refers to a wood nymph from an oak tree, but is commonly used to describe wood nymphs as a whole**

**** I have seen consistent use of powers granted by, or inherited from, Hestia used to heal. While there is no basis in myth for this (at least as far as I am aware of), I see no reason why she can't be good at this. However, my logic behind the calming abilities comes from Hestia's ability to be a mediator for her brothers and sisters, which means being able to calm them down some.**

**As usual, tell me what I can do to improve the story, or my writing. I'm trying to make a good story that people enjoy, not just get something out there.**

**Have a nice day!**


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own PJO

(If I did, I would have more creative chapter names)

**Xxx**

_Last time on FotW:_

"_Umm…"_

_For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak. Then his scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Kenna, that was amazing! Show me that again!"_

_I complied, but the energy burst that the water gave me was gone. This time, we were much more even than when I started training, but Luke still had skill and practice on his side. My sword went clattering down. After a long pause someone said, "Beginner's luck?" Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said, "But I wonder what Kenna could do with some more practice…."_

**/Line Break/**

For the first time that week didn't feel so tired when we got back to the cabin for the night. I waited till I was confident no one would notice me, and carefully made my way to the door.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I closed the door behind me. No one was up, which meant no one would see me do something potentially harmful.

I went to the central hearth in the middle of the commons. I hadn't seen mom since the first day I was conscious here, which could be good or bad, but I decided not to think about it. When I got there I sat and just stared at the flames, wondering if what I was doing was idiotic. Finally, I decided to just go for it.

I stuck my hand in the coals.

A person's first instinct is generally to avoid fire. Fire is dangerous, it burns, it consumes; it destroys. It's one of those human instincts that have kept people safe since from the early days, and it makes sense. It seemed that I never truly got that instinct, of course, I didn't go around sticking my hands into candle flames; I was told it was hot and painful. But it wasn't for me.

It just felt… well, the closest thing to describe it as was warm flowing water, but it was different. It was lighter and more flowing; I could sense its desire to spread, to expand itself. It was like a living thing, delicate and dangerous at the same time. The coals just felt like warm chunks of wood, hotter than the flames, but that was about it. I pulled my hand from the fire, and it stayed in my hand. It looked like my hand was burning, but it wasn't consuming it. It just continued to burn happily.

For a moment I was afraid I wouldn't be able to put it out, that I would burn down the camp, and hurt someone. The flames started fluctuating with my emotions, and it nearly _did_ get out of my 'control'. But I calmed myself down, and the flames went back down to normal. I took a breath, and focused on the flame getting even smaller. The flames got smaller and smaller, till it was reduced to just a candle flame. And I blew it out.

I smiled to myself, and a giggle passed my lips.

I heard a gasp, and I whirled around to see Clarisse staring at me, wide eyed.

Shit.

/**Line Break-Clarisse's POV, 5 min. earlier/**

"Don't tell me you're scared of a little pipsqueak like her?" Jessie challenged

"No, it's not like that. There's something different about her. She doesn't look like any of the other gods, or even goddesses. Even Hecate doesn't have kids with red hair." Clarisse said.

"So what? That little freak probably just takes after her mother more."

"Jessie, it doesn't work like that! Even I know that. Godly genes are dominant in most areas. For her to look nothing like her godly parent isn't possible." There was a long pause and Jessie's eyes narrowed. "You're starting to sound like one of those owl-heads" Jessie said.

That right there was a no-no in Ares cabin, especially for Clarisse, but for different reasons.

That was how deep the rivalry was; if you started to act too much like Athena kids, or worse, started dating one, you got ostracized. You lost your privilege to have any friends in cabin five, even if they were your full blooded sibling. And Clare's first Ares counselor, a close friend and mentor, started dating a girl from cabin six. The entire cabin practically disowned him.

That's why no matter what she felt about other campers, she disliked her cabin mates more, and absolutely loathed her father. He wasn't any kind of nice, not with his Olympian lover, not with his mortal lovers, and most certainly not his children. She honestly had no idea how her mother ended up getting pregnant from that pig through any other means than rape or a drunken mistake. And of the two the latter was very common in cabin five. But her mother maintained that it was actual love that drew them together; she thought her mom was just drawn by his 'bad-boy' attitude, which was also a common theme in Ares cabin.

So that's why Jessie was now unconscious on her bed, with a large lump and the beginnings of a bruise over right eye.

Clarisse went out to work off her anger training with her spear, Maimer. It wasn't that she would get in trouble for hitting a cabin-mate, infighting was encouraged as long as no one outside of their cabin knew about it (that just sickened her; it was one thing to have arm-wrestling contests and the like with your family, but to actually come to enraged blows with your brothers and sisters?), but because she didn't want to deal with waking up annoyed campers. She could only knock out so many after all.

When she stepped out the doors she started to go down to the arena, or maybe go do something more productive, like actually kill something in the woods, when she caught sight of a familiar head of red hair by the fire-pit.

It wasn't an uncommon sight to see new campers, and sometimes older ones, spend a night near the fire when they were stressed out, she had done so herself a few times. The warm flames seemed to just melt away all her problems, if just for a few hours. So she was perplexed when she saw Kenna there. The girl had seemed to be almost right at home in camp and she did well in many activities, maybe it was all the stress to figure out her godly parent getting to her?

The camp usually was, at least for a few days, very interested in new demigods. But that usually died off on the second or third day. But when Kenna showed up having already killed the Minotaur, a feat that even fully trained campers would have trouble with on a good day, and then blasts two of Ares' top five kids out the door with water and not a scratch on her. Well, that had camp talking. And when she matched, and then defeated Luke in a sword fight to day, that was just the icing on the cake.

Many thought she was one of the big three's kids. Most of those thought Zeus, especially since he had already broken his oath. She had overheard Annabeth as she passed on the way to dinner mutter:"…got to be Poseidon this time. Why couldn't it…"

But Clarisse didn't think that was right either. She had glanced at a few pictures of kids born before the oath, and none of Zeus' kids were red heads. Poseidon had never had a mortal daughter either from what he could tell, but like his brother all his children got his eyes and black hair. There was a chance that if he had daughters that they wouldn't look like him as much, but those eyes would always be passed down, that was the one surefire way to tell if someone was a kid of the big three as far as she could tell.

Kenna was an enigma. She didn't match with any of the Olympians, or even the minor gods. And there she was, holding one hand out to the…Clarisse paused.

She watched as the flames went wild for a few moments before dying back down. Kenna was burning something in her hand. Clarisse got closer to see what she was doing exactly.

Her eyes bugged out.

In Kenna's hand there was a little flame, and it wasn't burning anything.

When she heard the other girl just giggle she couldn't hold back a gasp.

Kenna tensed and whipped around. Clarisse just stood there in shock.

Behind Kenna the fire began to flare and crackle rapidly, and rhythmically; like a rapid heartbeat.

Suddenly she was enveloped in a column of fire and was gone.

**/Line Break-Kenna/**

Suddenly I found myself falling into something soft. I looked around me and saw that I was on the empty beach. The moon was reflecting on the waves, and the stars were shining pretty brightly for being so close to Manhattan.

Clarisse had scared me more than I would like to admit, and I panicked. I had expected shouts and proclamations of 'freak' or something along those lines. With the stunned silence I didn't know what to expect and scarred me more than anything else she could have said or done. And apparently my abilities reacted to that.

I hugged my knees and tried to calm down more. The peaceful scenery helped a lot with that. Eventually my heart calmed down enough that I could think strait.

I was worried now that everyone would know what I did. I didn't know Clarisse at all, and if her cabin-mates were anything like her, she would use it to insult me in a lame way that would still hurt my feelings.

I hate how vulnerable I felt.

I didn't like not knowing what would happen to me if everyone found out, how they would react. Would I still be welcomed in cabin eleven? Would anyone still want to be friends with me? Would Annabeth poke and prod me like some experiment, to see what I would do? How would Grover feel after I lied to him? How would Chiron feel? And even worse thoughts crossed my mind, like, what would Zeus do before my mom could tell him? What would the counsel say?

I had to calm myself back down again, and I felt exhausted.

Whatever I did to create that column of fire, out of thin air, and transport myself to the beach drained me.

I snuck back to the cabin area slowly. The commons was empty, Clarisse had left off to wherever, and I was free to go back into my cabin to sleep.

Tomorrow was going to be Hades for me.

**/Line Break/**

It turned out that Clarisse kept quiet about what she saw the night before, because I only heard the murmurs of my fight with Luke, and no one was throwing me scared glances.

By the afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near death experience on the climbing wall. Grover had scampered to the top like the little goat he was (I said he was cheating), but the boulders had nearly gotten me. It had caught me on the arm, and I thought it mad a gash, but I saw it was only a scratch when I reached the top.

We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask him how his conversation with Mr. D had gone.

His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.

"Fine," he said. "Just fine."

"So your career's still on track?"

He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"

"Well… no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but I left it to him if he wanted to tell me. "He just said you had big plans, and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"

Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates are still tied together. If you go on a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then he may consider the job complete."

My feelings were mixed. Grover still had a chance to get his license, but at the moment Chiron wasn't allowing quests. "It's going to be fine, Grover, you'll get that license. I know you will."

I gave him a slight hug.

"_Blaa-ha-ha!_ The chances of you getting a quest though… and why would you want _me_ along?

I slapped him upside the head. "Of course I'd want you along! You're my friend."

Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket waving… must be nice to have a useful skill."

I smacked him upside the head harder. "Don't say that! Grover, I couldn't, no; wouldn't, pick a better getaway driver than you. Of course I'd have to wear a helmet, but still."

I continued to try and improve his mood, and it worked a bit. We talked about the pros and cons of different gods for a while, and eventually I asked about the empty cabins.

"Well, number eight, the silver one, that's Artemis'" he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids; the cabin is honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."

"Okay, so I guess it's the same with cabin two; Hera would be mad if she didn't have one?" he nodded. "Then why is Zeus' and Poseidon's empty, and why doesn't Hades have a cabin? Aren't they the big three?"

"Yeah, they're the big three; the three sons of Kronos." He said.

"Still doesn't explain the other questions,"

"Right, well, Hades doesn't have a throne on Olympus, so he doesn't have a cabin. If he did have a cabin here…" Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant, let's say, and leave it at that

"But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had tons of kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"

Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human history too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other*. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."

Thunder boomed.

I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."

Grover nodded.

"And the brothers kept their word?"

Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia… well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."

"But that isn't fair! It wasn't the girl's fault she was born."

Grover hesitated. "Kenna, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl he was furious that Zeus broke his oath. He let out the worst monsters of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd be friended. They almost made it; they got to the top of that hill."

He pointed a shaky finger across the valley, to the pine tree where I fought the Minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hellhounds. They were going to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other half-bloods to safety while she held of the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her, and he turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the boarders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."

I could see Grover's eyes moisten a little and I realized who the satyr from the story was; him.

I pulled him into a hug, which he gave a yelp at, but he then relaxed and cried into my shoulder. I rubbed his back and whispered comforting things in his ear.

"It's okay, grove, it's okay. I'm here for you." I said. Finally his sobs slowed to a stop. He pulled away a little and I gave him a pat on the back and a small smile. "We'll talk about this later, okay?" he just nodded.

**/Line Break/**

The Friday night, after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. At last, it was time for capture the flag (to which I mentally added, 'with deadly weapons').

When the plates were cleared away, the horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion, carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening grey, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but in a gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

I turned to Luke and asked "Does Athena and Ares always lead the teams?"

"Not always," he said, "But often."

"Whose side are we on?"

He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't (which would be why I was asking in the first place). The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "We made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares, and you're going to help."

The teams were announced; Athena cabin had made alliances with Hermes and Apollo, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support.

Ares had gotten everyone else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus' kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills, but weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters were mostly narcissistic dolts who just looked at their reflections, worried about their next date; who was whose boy/girlfriend, etc. I wasn't too worried about them. Hephaestus' kids were big and burly from swinging hammers and lifting heavy parts to the contraptions they made. They could be a problem. That left Ares' cabin; a dozen of the meanest kids this side of long island.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" he announced, "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Now, arm yourselves!"

He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal, and various pieces of armor.

I didn't pay the swords and spears much mind, but a set of black and red armor caught my eye. It looked like some sort of animal hide covered cuirass; it still had the soft, black fur on it. And the armor was light as a feather when I picked it up. **

"Whoa." Was the only word I could get to come out of my mouth. Luke looked over at me and his eyes widened.

"Kenna you better get that on, before someone takes it from you. Here, let me help." We messed around with the straps for a while before it was fitted comfortably to my body. It was so light I barely even noticed I was wearing armor.

"What is this stuff?" I finally managed to ask.

"That right there, is an experimental armor Hephaestus cabins been working on for months. All I know about it is that it's made of a hellhound's skin." Then he paused, and wondered to himself. "I wonder how it got on our table? Anyways, you still need a shield and helmet. Here, Chiron said this should fit."

My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle, and it weighed a ton. I could have snowboarded on it just fine, but I hoped that no one wanted me to run. My helmet made me feel top heavy, and like all the other helmets on Athena's side, it had a blue horse hair plume on top. Ares' and their allies had red plumes.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team taunted at us as they passed to the north.

I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my shield. "Hey"

She kept marching.

"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any advice for me?"

"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Did Luke give you your job yet?"

"No, I think he forgot about it."

"Well, let's put you on border patrol. It's pretty simple, just stand by the creek and keep away the reds. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."

"You know, they say a plan never survives contact with the enemy."

She ignored my last comment, and pushed ahead to leave me in the dust.

"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."

It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Annabeth had me stationed next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team moved off into their positions amongst the trees.

Standing there alone, with my big blue horse hair helmet and huge shield, I kind of felt like an idiot. Shouldn't the shields be lighter? And the helmet, although it was the one closest to my size, was too large.

Far away, the horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue plumed ally from Apollo raced by me like a deer, leapt, over the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory. I felt my bracelet warm slightly.

Then I hear a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by. I raised my shield and pulled on the bracelet instinctively; I knew that whatever it was, it was stalking me.

Then the growling stopped, and I felt the sword in my hand cool back down.

On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.

"Cream the punk!" Jessie screamed. Her ugly pig eyes sent me a glare through the slits of her helmet. And I almost felt the hate rolling off her.

Shit.

**/Line Break/**

**Hey there!**

**I hope you enjoy my first ever cliffhanger! (Cue evil laughter)**

**Well that was the second time I free balled part of the story, I hope you like it.**

***When I first read this I thought 'oh that's a cool thought', now, after actually writing it, it seems slightly insensitive to those who fought or lost loved ones in WWII. So I'll go ahead and apologize for Rick: This was never meant to offend anyone, it is merely a fictional twist to history to add more depth to the setting. If you are offended, I send my deepest apologies. There, now I don't feel like I'm going to be hunted down by anyone.**

****the armor idea came from watching an **_**Ancient Discoveries **_**episode on the siege of troy. The armor I'm basing it off of is called** **Linothorax, and is basically an ancient version of Kevlar. Look it up on Google.**

**As usual, please leave a review. I can't get better without knowing what I did badly on. Whether it is grammar, spelling, or content, I need your help.**

**And a thanks to everyone who is now following me, I appreciate it.**

**Have a nice day!**


	11. Chapter 11

I don't own PJO

**The Truth Comes Out (Mostly)**

(I am sorry for not having a name for the last chapter; it just wouldn't come to me.)

_Last time on FotW:_

_On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark._

"_Cream the punk!" Jessie screamed. Her ugly pig eyes sent me a glare through the slits of her helmet. And I almost felt the hate rolling off her._

_Shit._

**/Line Break/**

Jessie and her siblings were equipped with the standard-issue bronze swords that camp provided, which I was thankful for, but it didn't make them less intimidating.

As they charged across the stream, I looked around and saw I was alone. I could run, but that kind of defeats the purpose of being border patrol. Or try and hold off half of Ares cabin, by myself.

I sidestepped the first kid's downward swing and used my leg to trip him up. He was already overbalanced, so he fell flat on his face. He didn't get back up.

But the others weren't stupid enough to go at me one at a time, they surrounded me.

Jessie sent a swing at me, I used my shield to block it, but the heavy blow made my arm go numb for a minute. Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword, and while I didn't feel the blow, it still sent me to the ground by shear force.

"Give her a haircut," Jessie said, "Grab her hair."

I got back on my feet and had my sword at the ready. Jessie struck at me again, this time with a thrust. I deflected it, but it grazed my exposed arm, leaving a nice-sized cut.

I looked at the cut; it was strange to see my own blood. I managed to get out, "No maiming"

"Oops," she said, grinning wickedly. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege."

She pushed me to the creek, and I tripped on a rock, landing with a splash. They all laughed. I figured that as soon as I was done entertaining them, they'd really start to maim. But just like last time, the water energized me, jump starting my senses.

Jessie and her cabin-mates came into the creek to get me, but I stood up to meet them. I sung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. His eyes were vibrating slightly, almost cartoon-like, as he crumpled into the water.

Ugly number three and number four came at me. I bashed my shield into the face of one, stunning him, and whirled around to whack the other in the head, knocking him out. I turned and smashed the pommel of my sword into the other guy's forehead. He dropped like a sack of potatoes. Ugly number five didn't look particularly anxious to attack, but Jessie kept coming. She made a thrust and I sidestepped. I smacked the top of her hand with the butt of my sword, which made her drop her weapon, and I kicked it down stream to keep it out of her reach.

"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"

She probably would've said worse, but I kicked her in the gut and sent her backwards, trying to catch her breath.

Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke running toward the boundary line, with the red team's banner lifted high. He had a couple Hermes guys on either side of him, and Clarisse was charging up behind him quickly, but not fast enough. The Ares folks got up, and Jessie muttered a curse.

"A trick!" She shouted. "It was a trick."

They staggered after Luke, but they were too far away. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across the stream into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a large caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven and its patron. Everybody on the blue team that was close enough picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the horn, which was a conch shell.

The game was over, and we'd won.

I was about to go join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero." I looked around, but she wasn't there.

"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.

I felt a little bit angry, but mostly betrayed. I wasn't even fazed that she'd just been invisible. "You know, you don't earn peoples trust by using them as bait Annabeth."

She at least had the decency to look a little bit ashamed. "I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but…you didn't need help."

Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"

"Sword cut," I said. "What do you think?"

"No. It _was_ a sword cut. Look at it now."

The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and then disappeared entirely

"I-I don't get it."

"Don't give me that, Kenna, you're smart enough to figure this out." She said a little harshly. When I gave her a confused look, she rolled her eyes. "Step out of the water Kenna."

"What-"

"Just do it" She snapped, not happy about the situation for whatever reason.

I came out of the creek, and the water's boost left me. I felt a little tired, and I stumbled a little but that was about it.

But before I could ask why she told me to get out, my sword got really warm and glowed in a light orange. Then I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.

The camper's cheering died immediately, and Chiron shouted in Ancient Greek, "_Stand ready! My bow!"_

Annabeth drew her sword. There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava red eyes and fangs like daggers.

And it was staring right at me.

Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Kenna, run!"

She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her- an enormous shadow with teeth- and just as it crashed into me, as I stumbled backward and felt its weight crushing my chest and its claws making holes in my armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after another. From the hound's neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster rolled off of me, dead.

By some miracle, I was alive. I didn't want to look underneath my pierced armor. My chest felt warm and wet. Another second, and I might have had my head bitten off, I knew it.

Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in hand, his face grim.

"Di immortals!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't…they're not supposed to…"

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside this camp."

Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.

Jessie shouted, "It's all Kenna's fault! Kenna summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child" Chiron reprimanded.

We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Kenna, get into the water."

"I'm okay"

"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."

I was too tired to argue. I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me.

Instantly I felt better. The piercings in my skin from the claws were closing up. The campers gasped. But they weren't watching my wounds heal, they were staring at something over my head.

"What?" Annabeth said, confused. "But… I thought…I assumed it would be Poseidon…"

Bye the time I looked up, the sign was fading, but I could still make out the hologram of orange and red light, flickering. Flames.

"What?" Annabeth made out.

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All around me campers started kneeling, even Ares cabin, although most didn't look happy about it.

"Hestia," said Chiron. "The first and last*. patron of the family and the state. Hail, Kenna Pyrrhus, daughter of the hearth."

**/Line Break—Mount Olympus, Council Room, Poseidon's POV, 1 week before claiming/**

"Give it back!" Zeus yelled like the petulant child. It was rather unbecoming of an immortal being, but it was par for the course for the Olympians.

"I'm telling you, I didn't take it." Poseidon said, his usual calm exterior only being a façade covering his growing anger and frustration. The calm before the storm as it were. "Why don't you get your head out your ass, and talk to Hades? He's been rather silent lately, more so than usual."

Really, it was rather annoying. He had been building up the trust between him and his brother since WWII, and then he goes and breaks the promise that Zeus_ himself _had pushed him and Hades into. And he had begun to trust his brother again when he brought up the one subject that was always sensitive for him at the winter solstice; mother. Really, he loved all his family, even Athena, but Rhea was a touchy subject for him. Why hadn't she acted sooner? He understood that she couldn't stop Hestia from getting swallowed, but why not save Hades? Surely she saw it coming? What about Demeter, himself, and Hera? He really didn't know what to think about her anymore.

"Don't you distract me! I know you took it!"

"Really, you saw me take it?" he said sarcastically

"You sent that child of yours to get it!"

That brought Poseidon to a sudden stop. _He can't mean…? _

"_I_ don't have any mortal children, _Zeus_." He glared at him. Oh, he was not happy about that point. He had nothing against his brother's child, but the girl's father…

"Yes you do, don't lie to me! I saw her control water like one of your spawn would!" Zeus had

"Who do you mean?" he asked, he was starting to worry. It wasn't his secret to reveal, and he had promised to protect the girl, even if Hestia didn't remember that promise.

"That Kenna girl." His eye twitched. His sister needed to know, there was no avoiding it.

So Poseidon left. Without a word, without a glance, and without a thought towards Zeus, only to informing his dearest sister the impending troubles for her daughter.

**/Line Break—Mount Olympus, Zeus's Palace, 10 min. before claiming/**

Zeus was not in a good mood. No questions asked.

His brother had broken the oath (he unconsciously forgot he himself had broken it first. Funny that.), and when confronted with it what did he do? He walked away! Not even willing to argue. That proved it enough for him. Oh, how he wished he could just zap the little sea brat. He still had the lesser bolts he kept; he couldn't always use the master, but there would be serious problems if he couldn't prove she was sea spawn. The birds he used to keep tabs on things had said she smelt faintly like the sea, but that wasn't enough evidence for the others. And if someone else's child got hurt also…

That was why he was watching the child, waiting for her to be claimed. Then, well, he needed the girl, loath as he was to admit it. He needed his bolt back, and even if she didn't steal it she could still bring it back to him.

Watching the girl during capture the flag was uneventful at first, but when some of Ares children showed up he cheered, glad he would see his brother's child be creamed. That was until they started to get obliterated by a single first timer. That worried him. Poseidon had never had a daughter**, a mortal one at least, and she had to be powerful if she was such a natural sword fighter. His own daughter, Thalia, was rather talented with a spear. It seemed their children always had an inborn fighting talent.

Then he saw the hellhound, and it too worried him. Was what Poseidon saying true? Was Hades behind it, and now he was cutting a lose end? But then another thought came to him. What if Hades was siding with Poseidon to over throw him?

All these thoughts of plots and schemes against him, and more, crossed his mind as he looked on. When the monster was dead he breathed a sigh of relief. He still had a potential tool he could use to get his bolt back.

Then he saw it. It was distinctive, and it rocked his core.

Hestia had claimed a child. And one who could use water like his brother's children at that.

For the first time in millennia he cursed his shortsightedness. How could he have been so blind! He had completely ignored the fact that his sisters too would be considered amongst the 'eldest gods'. He had been self-assured by his wife's faithfulness, and still was. Demeter's children were never all that aggressive, even if they were powerful in their own right, so he wasn't so worried about them. But Hestia was a maiden goddess! He never suspected she would have children. But his precious Athena was also a maiden goddess, and she had children.

Hestia had pleaded for his attention the whole week, and he had rebuffed her, thinking it some trivial matter. Oh, how wrong he was.

He dreaded what Hestia would do once she learned he had attempted to kill her child. That woman was downright terrifying! Especially when it came to family; he had to buy new robes after she yelled at him for killing Hades' lover and children.

But if there was one thing he knew about Hestia, it was that she always was loyal to Olympus (and in his mind that meant she was loyal to _him_).

Yes, the girl could still get his bolt back, but how to motivate her?

**/Line Break—Kenna's POV/**

The next morning, Chiron moved me into the big house.

I didn't have to share with anyone other than Chiron, since Mr. D was still allowed to sleep in Olympus. I had plenty of room for all my stuff: the clothes I had been given by the other girls in Hermes' cabin (and some from Aphrodite cabin), the toiletry bag Luke got me, and the armor I had kept from the capture the flag game. I got to eat in the big house, pick my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.

And I was utterly miserable.

Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven, I'd been separated out as if I was some rare disease.

Nobody mentioned the hellhound, not where I could here anyways. The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one, that I was the daughter of the hearth (though they didn't know how literal that phrase was); and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill me. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.

The other campers steered clear of me as much as possible. Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with what I did to Ares folks in the woods, so my lessons with Luke became one on one. He pushed me harder than ever, and I appreciated that at least. If only he didn't give me so many bruises in the process.

"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming hands (he used a torch). "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions,"

Annabeth still taught me Greek in the morning, though we moved from the Iliad and the odyssey to philosophy, and seemed distracted. Every time I said something, she'd look remorseful. I guess she was trying to come up with a way to apologize.

Jessie kept her distance; though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me.

Clarisse looked like she just found a missing piece of a puzzle, but found she was still missing a piece or two.

I knew someone at camp resented me (chough, Jessie, chough), because one night I came to my room and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the _New York Daily News*_*, opened to the Metro page.

**GIRL AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER FREAK CAR ACCIDENT**

**BY EILEEN SMYTHE**

Pele Pyrrhus and daughter are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The mother's badly burned '94 Ferrari was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken. The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.

Daughter Kenna Pyrrhus had left, with an unidentified male, in her mother's car, Ms. Pyrrhus was never seen leaving.

Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there is no sign of either of the missing Pyrrhus' or the stranger. Residents of the area report nothing unusual around the time of the incident.

Ms. Pyrrhus's neighbor, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his neighbor, Kenna, was a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.

Police would not say whether the daughter is a suspect in her mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are the recent pictures of Pele Pyrrhus and Kenna. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.

The phone number was circled in black marker. It made me so mad I turned the paper to ash.

That night I had a terrible nightmare.

I was running along the beach in a storm. There was a city behind me, but it wasn't New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread further apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.

About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green. They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky drew darker, and the wind rose.

I had to stop them. I didn't know why. But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.

Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robbed one yelling at the green-robbed one, _Give it back! Give it back!_ Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.

The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt.

I yelled _Stop it! Stop fighting!_

The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it made my blood run cold.

_Come down, little heroine,_ the voice crooned. _Come down!_

The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed me.

I woke up, sure I was falling.

I was still in bed in the big house. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that.

I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.

"Come in?"

Grover trotted in side, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you."

"Why?"

"He wants to kill… I mean, I'd better let him tell you."

Nervously, I changed into a camp shirt and jeans, thinking it more appropriate than a sweaty t-shirt and shorts, and did up my hair in a quick ponytail, before following Grover.

For days, I'd been half expecting a summons. Now that I was declared the daughter of Hestia, a maiden goddess who wasn't supposed to have kids, they might have figured my being alive a crime. The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver a verdict.

Over Long Island sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming our way. I asked if we needed an umbrella.

"No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."

I pointed at the storm "What the heck is that, then?"

He glanced up at the sky uneasily. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."

I realized that he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen skirted right around the edges of the valley.

But this storm…it was huge.

At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.

Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheelchair. They were playing against invisible opponents-two sets of cards hovering in the air.

"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."

I waited.

"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't just expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old fire-girl*** is your mother."

A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.

"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.

Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.

"If I had my way," Dionysus said. "I would have your molecules melt into liquid. We'd mop up the puddle and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."

"Spontaneous liquefying _is_ a form of harm, Mr. D." Chiron put in.

"Nonsense," Dionysus said. "The girl wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a log, and tossing you into your mother's hearth."

"Mr. D-" Chiron warned.

"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option, but its deadly foolishness."

Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the girl is still here when I get back, I'll turn her into a log of ash. Do you understand? And Kenna Pyrrhus, if you're at all that smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."

Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle, a credit card? No. A security pass.

He snapped his fingers.

The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, and then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingered behind.

Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Kenna, please, and you too Grover."

We did.

Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.

"Tell me, Kenna," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"

Just hearing the name made me shudder.

I half wanted to joke it off and say _I eat hellhounds for breakfast._ But I wasn't up for it.

"It scared me," I answered. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."

"You'll meet worse, Kenna. Far worse, before you're done."

"Done…with what?"

"Your quest, of course, will you accept it?"

I glanced at Grover, who had his fingers crossed,

"Um, sir," I said. "You haven't told me what it is yet."

Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."

Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.

"Poseidon and Zeus," I said. "They're fighting over something valuable… something that was stolen, aren't they?"

Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.

Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"

My face went red. I wished I hadn't opened my mouth. "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she overheard something about a theft. And … I've had a dream."

"I knew it." Grover said.

"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered.

"But it is her quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"

"Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Kenna, you are correct. Poseidon and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries.

They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen.

To be precise: a lightning bolt."

I blinked. "You're kidding."

"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned.

"I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."

"Oh"

"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titians, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."

"And it's missing?"

"Stolen," Chiron corrected.

"By who?"

"By you."

My mouth fell open.

"At least-" Chiron raised his hand. "-that's what Zeus used to think. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon got into an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly-that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes Poseidon convinced a human hero to take it."

"But I didn't-"

"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus no longer believes it was you, though he is still suspicious of Poseidon. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brothers lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus doesn't know is which hero took it. But since you have been claimed by Hestia, a completely neutral party, he wants you to go get it.

Hestia has always been the peacekeeper in Olympus. Gods know how many crises were avoided with her intervention. Even so, this is not something she could talk her brothers down from. She, along with most thinking observers, recognizes that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology by the same date. Unless the bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what full-fledged war would look like, Kenna?"

"Armageddon."

"Exactly, imagine the world in chaos; nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction, carnage, millions dead, Western Civilization turned into a battle ground so big it will make world war two look like a pillow fight."

It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.

"So I have to find the bolt," I said, "And return it to Zeus."

"Yes, there's hardly a better peace offering. The Daughter of Hestia returning the bolt. You are a neutral party, and there for under less suspicion."

"If Poseidon doesn't have it, then where is the bolt?"

"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago…well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."

"Why can't you just tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"

"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge"

I swallowed. "Good reason"

"You agree then?"

I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly.

"All right, I'll do it."

**/Line Break/**

**Hey there!**

**Once again, thank you to all who have followed me. I'm that much closer to WORLD DOMINATION! …Nah, but thanks, I appreciate it.**

**To my guest reviewer Mythfan, Thank you! I appreciate the ideas, and some of them are very interesting. Unfortunately your guess at why she has water powers in incorrect, but virtual cookies for trying! (::) (::)**

**And let that be a challenge to all of you. Try and guess the source of her water powers! If any of you guess correctly I'll let you make an OC that I will try to integrate into my story.**

***In mythology she was the first to be born, and the last to be regurgitated. Hence she is both oldest and youngest, at least that's what the Greeks thought.**

****In myth Rhode (after whom the island of Rhodes is named after) is sometimes considered a daughter of Poseidon. Although there are also stories of others being her parents, I went with her being Poseidon's and Amphitrite's daughter, and therefore, full blooded sister to Triton.**

**I have a question for you guys; does any have an idea when **_**The Lightning Thief**_** took place? I think it would make it easier for me if I knew.**

**Have a nice day!**


	12. Chapter 12

I don't own PJO

(If I did my name would be Rick, not Luke)

I'm sorry I skipped some of my *'s so here they are:

The New York Daily News- is this a real news paper? Seriously, that name is so unimaginative

Old fire-girl- I need good nick names for Hestia, can you recommend some?

**XXX**

(I really got to come up with some chapter names)

"_If Poseidon doesn't have it, then where is the bolt?"_

"_I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago…well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."_

"_Why can't you just tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"_

"_Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge"_

_I swallowed. "Good reason"_

"_You agree then?"_

_I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly._

"_All right, I'll do it_

**/Line Break/**

"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Kenna Pyrrhus, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."

Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trapdoor.

I pulled the cord and the door swung down, letting a wooden ladder clatter into place.

The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and…reptiles. I held my breath and climbed.

The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ILSE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled monster parts. There was a dusty mounted trophy on the wall that looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969.

By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy. Not the wrapped in linen kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.

Looking at her sent chills up my back, and that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I started to back up to the trapdoor, but it slammed shut. Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: _I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus* Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask_

I just wanted to get out; the Oracle's presence in my head was very, very unnerving, but I forced myself to take a deep breath.

The mummy was no longer alive. The woman's body was now just a gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence wasn't evil, I could sense that. It was old, powerful, and decidedly _not_ human.

I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny**?"

The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table of preserved monster parts. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. As their faces became clearer I recognized them; it was Gabe and his pals.

My body tensed, though I knew this poker game wasn't real. It was just a shape in the mist.

The one that looked like Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: _You shall go west, and face the god who has turned._

His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice:_ You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned._

The guy on the left threw in two chips, and then said: _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend_

Finally, Eddie, the building super, delivered the last line: _And you shall save what matters most, in the end_.

The figures began to dissolve. At first, I was too stunned to say anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, I cried, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend?"

The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall, her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent once more, abandoned, nothing but a roomful of mementoes.

My audience with the Oracle was over.

**/ Line Break/ **

"Well?" Chiron asked me.

I slumped into my chai at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen,"

Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!"

"What did the Oracle say _exactly_?" Chiron pressed. "This is important."

My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She…she said I would go west and face the god who has turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned"

"I knew it," Grover said.

Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else, dear?"

I didn't want to tell him.

What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many. But… maybe I'm not seeing things straight. Mr. Brunner has had plenty of experience interpreting prophecies. And as for Grover… I don't care what the Oracle says, I trust Grover with my life and I know he feels the same way about me. But it didn't make telling it that much easier.

I took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut. "she-she said," I swallowed hard. It hurt to think a friend, someone I trusted and cared for, would turn against me. "She said I shall be betrayed by one that calls me friend. And I shall save what matters most in the end."

When I peeked through one of my eyes, I saw that, while Chiron's face was grim, he had a proud look in his eye. I looked over to Grover, to see his reaction. He had a shocked and horrified look on his face; he couldn't imagine anyone betraying me. And that relived me so much. I knew no matter what, I could trust Grover.

"Kenna… thank you for telling me this, I think it wise to say that that line is not to be mentioned outside of those in this room." He paused a bit. "And Kenna? Remember this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings, and the wording is important. So don't dwell on them too much, the truth is not always clear until events come to pass. Hindsight is 20/20 after all."

"Okay," I said, anxious to change topics, "So where exactly do I go? And who's the god in the west?"

"Ah, think, Kenna," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"

I thought about it, and said. "Hades, he doesn't like being the king of the underworld. And all the death will build his army."

Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."

A scrap of aluminum fell out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"

"A fury came after Kenna," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young woman until she was sure of what she _thought_ was her identity, and then tried to kill her. Furies obey only one Lord: Hades."

"Yes, but-but Hades hates _all_ heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he thought he found one of Poseidon's kids…"

"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron countered "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect that Poseidon would have Kenna clear his name. Hades would like very much to kill this young half-blood before she can take this quest. ***"

"But a quest to…" Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the bolt be in someplace like Maine? Main is very nice this time of year."

"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Kenna must go to the underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."

Grover was trembling. He started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.

The poor guy needed to complete this quest with me to earn his searcher's license, whatever it was.

"Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, "Why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the underworld and get the bolts themselves."

"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades- and I think Poseidon does-they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere; challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate from humans?"

I paused to think that through. I was being used? I was mad at that; I am my own person, not some tool to be used and discarded. But, I also knew if offered, I would do this quest anyway. Too many lives were at stake, and my mother… I would hate to think what would happen to her if there was a war.

"So let me get this straight." I said. "I'm to go to the underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."

"Check" Chiron said.

"Find the most powerful weapon on the planet."

"Check"

"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."

"That's about right."

I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.

"Did I mention Maine is very nice this time of year?"

I looked at him sympathetically. "You don't have to go." I said. "I can't ask that of you."

"Oh…" He shifted his hooves. "No…it's just that satyrs and underground places…well…"

He took a deep breath, and then stood, brushing shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Kenna. And you…well…if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."

I smiled at him. He was the only friend I ever had for longer than a month. I didn't know what Grover could do against the forces of the dead, but I really couldn't care less about that. He was my best friend, thick and through.

"All the way G-man." I turned to Chiron. "So where do I go? The Oracle only said go west."

"The entrance to the underworld is always to the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."

"Where?"

Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that it would be obvious enough. The entrance to the underworld is in Los Angeles."

I blinked.

"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane-"

"I'm afraid not, Kenna." Said Chiron

"What? Why not?"

"Kenna, despite the fact your mother claimed you he still doesn't trust you. You still have control over water for an unexplainable reason, and he is nervous to see a new type of demigod in the air, one that is potentially powerful. So, at this point, flying is not an option."

"Okay…" I said, confused, didn't he want to have his bolt back quickly? "So we'll travel overland."

"That's right." Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one, and another has already volunteered, if you accept her help,"

"Gee… I wonder who?" I feigned surprise.

The air behind Chiron shimmered.

Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankee's hat into her back pocket.

"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, Kenna." She said. "If you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."

"If you do say so yourself." I said. "I suppose you have a plan, wise girl?"

Her cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?"

The truth was I did, I needed all the help I could get.

"A trio," I said. "That'll work."

"Excellent." Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."

Lightning flashed, and rain poured in the meadows that were never supposed to have bad weather.

"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."

**/Line Break/**

I was almost finished packing up my clothes, when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." I said distractedly, as I zipped up the duffle bag.

I turn around and see my mom, standing in her adult, red haired form. I hadn't seen her in so long; it made me feel bad I didn't think about her more often.

I ran and gave her a hug. We stayed like that for a moment, just enjoying being with each other again. Eventually my mom broke the silence.

"Honey, there's something I need to say." She said quietly. I looked up into her warm and comforting eyes, but there was sadness in them too. "Zeus…has decided that, until his bolt is returned, I'm to be under house arrest in Olympus."

I stared at her in shock. "What?! Why?! He has no reason to do that!"

"Hush, honey." She soothed. "It's not for ever. He is just upset that he didn't even know I had you, I am a maiden goddess after all."

"But so is Athena!"

"I know, honey, but your uncle is rather adamant he should have been informed." She sighed, and then she smiled down at me. "But don't worry too much dear. You're a strong person, and you'll make it through this, I know you will." She gave me a hug, and whispered, "Just make sure you get back in one piece," she said, pulling back "We can't celebrate your birthday with you in the infirmary, now can we?"

I smiled at her as she disappeared in a column of fire.

**/Line Break/**

Even with my mom's visit, I had all my stuff ready quickly. Plenty of clothes, a tooth brush Grover got for me, and of course, the hellhound armor, were stuffed in my duffle bag.

The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various gods on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, but, as Chiron told us, the Olympians never used less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions-like paying the ferryman to get into the underworld. He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was godly food, he reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, which made me wonder just how much I could take be for it was too much. I decided not to find out.

Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which had been a twelfth birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would set of any metal detectors we went through.

Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green Rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair would flatten and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bight orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday", both of which were never meant to be played on reed pipes.

We waved goodbye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, and then hiked up Half-Blood hill to the tall pine tree that now is Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair, and next to him was Argus, the multiple-eyed surfer dude that was the camp's head of security.

"This is Argus," Chiron introduced. "He will drive you to the city, and, err, well, keep an eye on things." I snorted at that.

I heard footsteps behind us.

Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.

"Hey," He panted. "Glad I caught you."

Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.

"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me. "And I thought…um, maybe you could use these."

He handed me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal, and smelled pretty normal.

Luke said, "_Maia_"

White bird's wings sprouted out he heels, startling me a bit. I dropped them and they flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.

"Awesome!" Grover said.

Luke smiled. "Those served me well on my quest. A gift from dad, of course, I don't use them much these days…" His look turned sad.

I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Luke had come to say goodbye. It made me blush almost as much as Annabeth.

"Thanks." I said

"Listen, Kenna…" Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hope is riding on you. So just… kill some monsters for me, okay?"

We shook hands; Luke patted Grover between the horns, and then gave a goodbye hug to Annabeth, who looked ready to pass out.

After Luke had gone I smirked evilly at her, "You're hyperventilating."

"Am not."

"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"

"Oh… why do I want to go anywhere with you, Kenna?"

She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.

I picked up the flying shoes and had a sudden bad feeling. I looked at Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"

He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Kenna. But taking to the air… that would not be wise."

I nodded, slightly disappointed, but then I got an idea. "Hey, Grover, you want a magic item?"

His eyes lit up. "Me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, of course you, you silly goat."

Pretty soon we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat-boy was ready for takeoff.

"_Maia!_" he shouted.

He got off the ground, looking promising, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes bucked like tiny broncos.

"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"

"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.

Before I could follow, Chiron caught my arm. "I should have trained you better, Kenna," he said. "If only I had more time. Heracles, Jason- they all got more training."

"It's okay. I wish I got more time here too."

"You still have your weapon?" he asked.

I nodded, and held up my left wrist, where the bracelet was.

"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron warned. "And only against monsters, no hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."

I looked at the wickedly sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals? How could it not?"

"That sword is celestial bronze; forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply aren't important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."

"Good to know, but what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"

Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Kenna."

"Mist?"

"Yes. You read _The Iliad_, correct? It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the visions of humans. You will see things just as they are because you are a half-blood, though you will still be subject to it on rare occasions, but humans will interpret things quite differently. It's truly remarkable, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."

For the first time the quest felt real; I was actually leaving Half-Blood Hill. I was heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare.) I had no weapon stronger than a sword to fight off monsters (maybe I could use my powers to incinerate them) and reach the land of the dead.

"Relax," Chiron told me. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in history."

"Relax," I said. "I'm very relaxed."

When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under Thalia's pine, Chiron now stood in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in a salute, just your typical summer camp send-off by your typical centaur.

**/Line Break/**

*** Phoebus is the Anglicized version of the Greek Phoibos, literally "radiant", which was very commonly used by both the Greeks and Romans in Apollo's role as the god of light.-This information provided is courtesy of **_**Wikipedia**_**.**

****honestly, If could think of any better way of asking I would, but I couldn't. I mean, **_**what is my destiny? **_**, that question is ****very**** broad.**

*****Hades, unlike most of the Olympians, can't view the mortal world as easily as the other gods, because his realm isn't as connected to the living. He simply doesn't know she has been claimed yet. He will find out, just not yet.**

**/ Line Break/**

**Hey there!**

**Not as many words as last time, but it's still a good amount.**

**Again a thanks to those who follow and favorite me! And a thanks to all my reviewers.**

**I'm a little disappointed no one else even**_** tried**_** to guess where her water powers come from, but there is still time to guess. **

**I'll admit, my Hestia scene is probably too quick and needs work, but I believe it is still good**

**Please review, that's all I really ask.**

**Have a nice day!**


	13. Chapter 13

I don't own PJO

(I just wish I could make up chapter titles like Rick does)

**Out of the frying pan, into the fire**

"_Relax," Chiron told me. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in history."_

"_Relax," I said. "I'm very relaxed."_

_When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under Thalia's pine, Chiron now stood in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in a salute, just your typical summer camp send-off by your typical centaur._

**/Line Break/**

Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again, Annabeth and Grover were sitting next to me like we were normal carpoolers, not like we were three people on a do-or-die mission. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy. I found myself staring at every McDonalds, every kid in their parent's car, and every billboard and shopping mall.

Annabeth kept sending me glances. It got to the point that it was grating on my nerves, couldn't she just say something already? I sighed and thought: _she's just nervous_. I looked at her.

"Annabeth?" she turned to look at me. "I don't blame you for thinking I was Poseidon's kid. I mean, what with the bathroom incident and all, it would have made it seem obvious… So can you stop looking at me like that? I feel like I'm going to spontaneously combust here."

She laughed a little. "No…it, it's okay. I shouldn't have acted like I did, whether you were the daughter of Poseidon or not. I mean, we aren't our parents after all; we're individuals."

I gave her a smile, and the rest of the ride was an easy quiet.

Traffic slowed us down in Queens, so by the time we got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.

Argus dropped us off at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far away from me and Mom's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with my picture on it: **HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?**

It was an ash pile before Annabeth and Grover could notice.

Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, and then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.

I thought of how close I was to my old apartment. On a normal day, mom would be home from work (which I now knew was tending the hearth in Olympus, among her other duties). Smelly Gabe would be in one of his games, hoping he'd somehow get money out of our disappearance.

Grover shouldered his back pack. He gazed down the street in the direction I was looking. "Do you want to know why she put up with him, Kenna?"

I stared at him. "Were you reading my mind or something?"

"Just your emotions." He shrugged. "Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that. You were thinking of your mom and you're neighbor, right?"

I nodded, wondering what else Grover might have forgotten to tell me.

"Your mom did it for _you," _Grover told me. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. This guy has an aura….Yuck; I can smell him from here. I can smell traces on you, and you haven't been near him for a week.

"Thanks" I said, feeling sick. "Where's the nearest shower?"

"You should be grateful Red, Your neighbor is so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod, even the presence of goddess like your mom was being covered. One whiff of him and I knew: Gabe has been covering you and your mom for years. If you hadn't spent so many years near him, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom kept him near so she could be with you more. She must love you a lot to put up with that guy- if that makes you feel any better."

It sort of did. Mom, a powerful goddess, put up with a rude and smelly mortal, just so she could raise me.

I knew how lucky I was. Many of the kids at camp never met their godly parent, and sometimes their mortal parents weren't the best of guardians.

The rain kept coming down.

We got restless waiting for the bus (we have ADHD after all) and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was amazing. She could bounce the apple of her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever, and I was just a tad behind her. The game ended when I bounced the apple towards Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky sack disappeared- core, stem, and all.

Grover blushed and tried to apologize, but Annabeth and I were too busy laughing our heads off.

As the bus finally pulled in my bracelet felt like it was getting warmer, but I thought nothing of it. We were lining up to get on board when Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy-enchiladas.

"What is it?" I asked

"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."

But I could tell it wasn't nothing, I opened up my senses to the world around me, but nothing seemed suspicious.

I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. Annabeth and Grover went to stow their stuff, but I stopped them.

"You never know what could happen." I said. "Just keep it on your laps in case we have to run."

Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.

As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand on my knee. "Kenna"

An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and my heart skipped a beat.

It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face.

I scrunched down in my seat.

Behind her came in two more old ladies: one in a green hat, and one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds-same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses.

Triplet demon grandmothers.

Shit

They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walk way, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.

The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."

"I said if you were_ lucky_," Annabeth said. "Clearly you're not."

"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "_Di immortales_"

"It's okay," she said. "The furies; the three worst monsters from the underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."

"They don't open." Grover replied.

"A back exit?" I suggested.

There wasn't one. Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped since we were still moving. By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.

"They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said, "Will they? She didn't last time."

"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. "Their brans can only process what they see through the mist."

"They'll still see three old ladies attacking us, won't they?"

"Hard to say, but we can't count on the mortals for help." She said after a moment of thought. "Maybe an emergency exit in the roof…?"

We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.

Mrs. Dodds got up. Then, in a flat voice, as if she rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."

"So do I." said the second sister.

"So do I." said the third sister.

They all started coming down the aisle.

Double shit

"I got it," Annabeth said. "Kenna, take my hat."

"What?"

"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle, let them come pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."

"But you guys-"

"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're the daughter of Hestia, your smell might be overpowering."

"That means you now smell like me."

"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"

My hands trembled. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on.

When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore.

I started creeping up the aisle with my bag. I managed to go up ten rows, before I had to duck into an empty seat just as the furies passed by.

Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked straight at me. My heart was pounding, and my hand slowly and quietly rested on my bracelet, which was uncomfortably warm.

Apparently she didn't see anything, and she and her sisters kept going.

I was free; I made it to the front of the bus. We were almost out of the Lincoln Tunnel now. I was about to press the emergency stop button when I heard a hideous wailing from the back row.

The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were about the same-I guess those couldn't get any uglier- but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their hand bags had turned into fiery whips.

The old ladies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"

The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw _something_, alright.

"She's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "She's gone!"

The furies raised their whips.

Annabeth drew her bronze knife, and Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.

What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should have been named ADHD poster child of the year. The bus driver was distracted; trying to see what was going on through the rearview mirror.

Still invisible, I grabbed the steering wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of the three furies smashing against the windows.

"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey-whoa!"

We wrestled with the wheel for a bit, slamming the bus against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, and throwing sparks a mile behind us.

We careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters alike were tossed around the bus, and cars were plowed aside like bowling pins.

Somehow, the driver got on an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering towards the river.

Another not-so-well-thought-out idea: I hit the emergency brake.

The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on and the door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.

The Furies regained their balance, and lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. All the while, Grover was throwing his tin cans.

I took off the invisibility hat and yelled. "Hey!"

The furies turned, baring yellow fangs at me. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver a D- on my English paper. Every time she flicked her whip, red flame danced along the barbed leather.

Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward me like huge nasty lizards.

"Kenna Pyrrhus," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."

"For the record, you were a terrible English teacher." I told her.

She growled.

Annabeth and Grover cautiously moved up behind the furies, looking for an opening. I pulled at my bracelet, and the band of metal morphed into a shimmering double-edged sword.

The furies hesitated.

Mrs. Dodds had felt Firestorm's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.

"Submit now," She hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal punishment."

"Nice try," I told her.

"Kenna, look out!"

Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around my sword hand while the furies on either side lunged at me.

My hand felt very warm, close to uncomfortable, but I wasn't being burned. I hacked into the Fury on my left's head, turning her to dust instantly, and slashed right as I turned. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed, and exploded into dust. Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backwards, while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands.

"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"

Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backwards into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get back up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down."

"Zeus will destroy you! Hades will have your soul!" she promised.

"_Braccas meas vescimini!"_ I yelled.

I wasn't sure where the Latin came from. I just knew it meant "Eat my pants!", or something like that.

Thunder shook the bus, and the hair rose on the back of my neck.

"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at me. "Now!", but I was already moving.

As we rushed out I let my sword turn back to an insignificant bracelet. The other passengers were wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" a Hawaiian-shirted tourist (it's sad how often stereotypes are proven true) with a camera snapped my photograph before I realized it.

"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our-"

**BOOOOOM!**

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from the inside told me Mrs. Dodds wasn't dead quiet yet.

"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"

We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness ahead.

**/Line Break/**

In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and on top of everything else it's raining, most people might think that's really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.

So there we were, Annabeth and Grover and I, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind us, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our noses.

Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes tuned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones, all three at once."

Despite pretty much being in shock myself, I walked next to Grover, half hugging him, and doing my best to send calming feelings to him. My arm glowed faintly. It was working a little, he stopped braying, but his eyes were still frightened. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get the better."

"All our food was back there, half our nectar and ambrosia, and you two lost your clothes."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight-"

"What did you want me to do? You were up against three furies with only a knife and tin cans to fight with."

"You don't need to protect me, Kenna. I would have been fine."

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."

"Shut up, goat boy,"

"Leave Grover out of this, be sides, he's right. Even as good as you are you were up against a wall, outnumbered, and with nowhere to go. And Grover doesn't have training like you."

Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans…A perfectly good bag of tin cans." And I was back to calming Grover's nerves.

We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted tees that smelled like sour laundry.

After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to me. "Look, I …" Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

"We're a team right?"

She was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died…aside from the fact that would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."

The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.

"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" I asked her.

"No…only short field trips. My dad…well, it didn't work out living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood _is_ my home." She was rushing out her words now; it was like she was afraid someone might stop her. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you find out whether you're any good or not."

It was barely there, there was a bit of self-doubt in her voice.

"You're pretty good with that knife," I said.

"You think so?"

"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a fury is okay by me."

I really couldn't see, but I was sure she smiled.

There was an interrupted by a shrill _toot-toot-toot_, like the sound of an owl being tortured.

"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"

He puffed a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.

Instead of finding a path, I immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-sized knot on my head.

Add to the superpowers I did _not_ have: Infrared vision (or do I? I'll have to check that out.).

After tripping and cursing and generally feeling like crap for another mile or so, I saw a light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. I could smell food; fried, greasy, fatty food. I never really had that kind of food, I mostly had mom's homemade food, and the burgers I did have were from the school cafeteria (I'm still not sure what that stuff was made of). That tends to put a kid off fatty food, but I was so hungry a burger and fries sounded pretty damn good.

We kept walking until I saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and food smell.

It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like I'd thought. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wood Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above was impossible for me to read, because if there's anything worse for dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.

To me it looked like: _ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM._

"What the heck does it say?"

"I don't know" Annabeth said.

She loved reading so much; it was hard to remember she was just as dyslexic as me.

Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."

Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.

As I crossed the road I stopped dead in my tracks. My bracelet was getting warm again, and this time I was going to pay attention. I started looking around for anything suspicious.

Grover got a little closer before he warned, "Hey…"

"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."

"Something's not right Annabeth." I said.

"Yeah, this place is weird." Grover agreed.

She ignored us, and kept going, me and Grover following more hesitantly.

The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing reed pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.

"_Bla-ha-ha!"_ he bleated. "It looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"

I started looking closer at the statues. They were extremely life like.

She was stopped outside the door.

"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."

"Your nose is clogged up from the furies," Annabeth told him. "All I smell is burgers, aren't you hungry?"

"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."

"Annabeth he's right. This place is giving me bad vibes." I said.

Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall Middle Eastern woman-at least I assumed she was Middle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was all I could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant, so I imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.

Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"

"They're…um…" Annabeth started to say.

"They're with the car up the road," I lied quickly, "We were doing a group road trip to D.C. when our van ran out of gas. They sent us to look ahead for a gas station, but this one is closed. You wouldn't happen to know where we could get some, would you?"

"Oh my, you poor dears!" she coddled. "I have to say I don't believe I have any gasoline, but I'll have a look. Please, do come in, I'm Aunty Em. I'll have some food going for you dears, go straight through to the back of the warehouse. There is a dining area."

Annabeth thanked her and went in, me and Grover following even more reluctantly than before.

The warehouse was filled with more statues-people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. I was thinking you'd have to have a pretty damn big garden to fit even one of these statues, because they were _all_ life-sized, not to mention the cost.

I ran through possible monsters Aunty Em could be. I was distracted by the smell of the burgers. It was like laughing gas, it was making everything go away. I shook my head, and tried to shake it off.

Grover was making nervous whimpers, the eyes of the statues seemed to follow us, and Aunty Em locked the door behind us. This was definitely_ not _right_._

When we got to the dining area it had more than I expected from a garden gnome emporium. There was a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything you could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.

"Please, sit down."

"Um," Grover said reluctantly. "We don't have any money, ma'am."

But Aunty Em just said, "No, no, children, no money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice children."

"Thank you, ma'am." Annabeth said.

Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but the old woman quickly schooled her features.

"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful grey eyes, child." I wondered how she knew our names, because we hadn't introduced ourselves.

Our hostess disappeared behind the snack bar and started cooking. Before we knew it she'd brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXXL servings of French fries. I finally gave up resisting my hunger, but I was still wary.

I was half way through my burger before I had to breathe.

Annabeth slurped her shake.

Grover picked at the fries, and eyed the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he was still too nervous to eat.

"What's that hissing noise?" he asked.

I listened, and I thought I caught something, but I wasn't sure. Annabeth shook her head.

"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have very keen ears, Grover."

"I take vitamins, for my ears."

"That's admirable," she said. "But please, relax"

Aunty Em ate nothing. She hadn't taken off her veil, even to cook, and now she sat forward, interlaced her fingers, and watched us eat. It was pretty unsettling; having someone stare at me when I couldn't see her face, but I was feeling satisfied after the burger, and I was fighting off sleepiness. I figured I should try and make small talk with our hostess, if only to keep me awake.

"So, you sell gnomes," I said, trying to sound interested.

"Oh, yes," Aunty Em said. "And animals, people, anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know."

"A lot of business on this road?"

"Not so much, no. Since the highway was built…most cars, they do not go this way now. I must cherish every customer I get."

My neck tingled, as if somebody else was looking at me. I turned, but it was just a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket. The detail was incredible, much better than seen in most garden statues. But something was wrong with her face; it looked as if she was startled, or even terrified.

"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred, and they do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right; all ways the face."

"You make these statues all by yourself?" I asked.

"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see; they are my company." There was such a deep sadness in her voice that I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

Annabeth stopped eating. She sat forward and said, "Two sisters?" That sudden question shook me from my thoughts of pity. This 'Aunty Em' wasn't what she appeared to be.

"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em began. "Not one for children, really, you see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago when I was young. I had a…a boyfriend, you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident, but my sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."

My eyelids kept getting heavier, and my full stomach was making me sleepy. But it didn't feel right; I hadn't eaten enough to feel that way. I had to shake myself of the feeling.

"Kenna?" Annabeth said, shaking me to get my attention. "May be we should go back, our parents will be worried as it is."

She sounded tense, and it seemed she finally was catching on to the wrongness.

"Yeah, thanks for the food, but we really should head back."

"Such beautiful eyes gray eyes," Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those."

She reached out as if to stroke Annabeth's check, but Annabeth stood up abruptly.

"We really should go."

"Yes!" I and Grover said at once as we stood up, before Grover continued, "Our parents are expecting us! Right!"

We started to head out.

"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"

"A pose?" Annabeth asked warily

"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."

Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Kenna, we need to go."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry we can't stay ma'am, but mom would kill me if we stayed any longer" We hustled to the door, but it was locked. I heard Aunty Em heave a sigh behind us.

"Such a shame, now we have to do this the hard way."

**/Line Break/**

**PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!**

**I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I was camping with my brother who is working at Airventure, taking place at the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) in Oshkosh, WI. It was cool, but there was no internet access, at least for my computer. So I'm sorry for not telling you ahead of time.**

**On that same note, I'm probably not going to be updating as frequently as when I started. So I'm sorry for those that are upset with that. I hope that with extra time I can improve my chapter quality.**

**While I'm at it, I'm also sorry for the cliffhanger.**

**I'm very disappointed in Rick's editor. I know that the Percy Jackson series is for young adults, but the amount of sentence fragments is ridiculous! It's frustrating to deal with it on Microsoft Word.**

**Have a nice day! **

**(Or evening, depending on your time zone)**


	14. Chapter 14

I don't own PJO

(And now for the most interesting chapter name ever)

**Chapter 14**

_Last time on FotW:_

"_A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."_

_Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Kenna, we need to go."_

"_Yeah, I'm really sorry we can't stay ma'am, but mom would kill me if we stayed any longer" We hustled to the door, but it was locked. I heard Aunty Em heave a sigh behind us._

"_Such a shame, now we have to do this the hard way."_

**/Line Break/**

"Don't look at her!" I cried out, going on a hunch who 'Aunty Em' really was.

Annabeth shoved on her cap and ran off, I ran to my left, pulling Grover along with me. We hid behind a large grizzly a few yards away.

After a moment Grover scrambled off to his own cover. Then I heard a strange, rasping sound behind me. I was tempted to look back, but resisted the urge and scrambled further away.

"Look out!" Grover bleated. I heard him racing across the gravel, yelling, _"Maia!"_ to kick start his flying sneakers.

I couldn't move. I was frozen to the spot, fighting the groggy-trance that was trying to come over me.

"Such a pity to destroy a beautiful young face," she told me soothingly. "Stay with me, Kenna. All you have to do is look."

I fought the urge to obey; instead, I looked to one side and saw one of those glass spheres people put in gardens- a gazing ball. I could see Aunty Em's dark reflection in the orange glass; her headdress was gone, revealing her face as a shimmering pale circle. Her head was writhing, covered with a multitude of snakes and serpents.

Aunty Em was actually Medusa. Huh, imagine that.

"The Grey-Eyed One did this to me, Kenna," Medusa said, and she didn't sound monstrous at all. Her voice invited me to sympathize with her, to look up and comfort her. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."

"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth's voice shouted, somewhere in the statuary. "Run, Kenna!"

"Silence!" Medusa snarled, and then her voice morphed back to a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Kenna; she is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Kenna, you need not suffer."

I started to slowly shuffle away. Her voice was lulling me into a false sense of security, which made it hard to concentrate on anything other than fighting it.

"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Kenna? What will happen if you reach the underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."

"Kenna!" there was a buzzing noise just above me, like a giant hummingbird in a kamikaze dive. "Duck!" Grover yelled.

I looked, and there in the night sky; flying in from twelve o' clock high with his winged shoes fluttering, was Grover, holding a tree branch the size of a baseball bat. His eyes were shut tight, his head twitching from side to side. He was navigating by ears and nose alone.

"Duck!" he yelled again. "I'll get her!"

That finally broke through my daze, and I leaped forward, hoping Grover's flight skills were better than his driving.

_Thwack!_

I prayed that Grover hadn't missed and crashed into a tree. Then Medusa roared in rage.

"You miserable satyr," she snarled. "I'll add you to my collection!"

"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled back. I scrambled closer to the gazing-ball, and picked it up, so I could sneak up and dispatch of Medusa while Grover distracted her. Grover made another pass.

_Ker-whack!_

Right next to me, Annabeth's disembodied voice said, "Kenna!"

I jumped, and nearly dropped the heavy glass ball on my feet. "Jeez! Don't do that!"

Annabeth took off her Yankees cap and became visible. "You have to cut her head off."

"I know that! What does it look like I'm doing, having a tea party?!"

She looked at the ball in my arm and fixed it with a look. "A polished shield would be better." She studied the sphere critically. "The convexity will cause some distortion. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of-"

"Now's not the time!" I snapped, trying to focus on sneaking up on Medusa's reflection.

Annabeth huffed a little, but only said, "Just look at her in the glass. _Never _look at her directly."

I nodded and she disappeared again.

"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere above us. "I think she's unconscious!"

"_Roooaaarrr!_"

"Maybe not," Grover corrected. He went in for another pass with the tree branch.

I pulled on my bracelet, and the bronze blade of Firestorm elongated in my hand.

I followed the hissing and spitting sounds of Medusa's hair around the statues. I kept my eyes locked on the gazing ball so I would only glimpse Medusa's reflection, not the real thing. Then, in the green tinted glass, I saw her.

Grover was coming in for another turn at bat, but this time he flew a little too low. Medusa grabbed the stick and pulled him off course. He tumbled through the air and crashed into the arms of a stone grizzly bear with a painful "Oomph!"

That was when I chose to swing. I slashed up with my sword, heard a sickening _shlock!,_ then the sound of a hiss, like wind rushing out of a cavern; the sound of a monster disintegrating.

Something fell to the ground next to my foot. It took all my will powered not to look, because I knew from the myths that the head, even if it was severed, could still petrify me. I could feel the warm ooze soaking into my shoe, little dying snake heads tugging at the laces.

"Oh, yuck," Grover said. His eyes were still closed tight, but I guess he could still hear the thing gurgling and steaming.

"Mega-yuck." I agreed

Annabeth came up next to me, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil. She said, "Don't move."

Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in the back cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green monster juice.

"Are you okay?" She asked me, her voice trembling.

"Yeah," I decided, though it felt like the cheeseburger was trying to make a second appearance. "Why didn't…why didn't the head dissolve?"

"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," She said. "Same as the Minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head, it can still petrify you."

Grover moaned as he climbed down from the statue. He had a big welt on his forehead, his green Rasta cap hung from one of his little horns, and his fake feet had been knocked off his hooves. The magic sneakers were flying aimlessly around his head.

"My hero," I cooed teasingly, before patting his shoulder. "Nice job."

He managed a bashful grin, while his face reddened. "That was really _not _fun. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, _that_ was fun, but crashing into a concrete bear? Not so much."

He snatched his shoes out of the air, and I let my sword morph back into a bracelet. Together, we stumbled back to the warehouse.

We found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. We plopped it on the table we had eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.

Finally I said. "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"

Annabeth flashed me an irritated look. "Poseidon, actually; Medusa was his girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster, and her two sisters who helped her get into the temple.*"

"She could have turned her into a toad or something, instead of making yet another monster," I countered. "Especially one that can hold a grudge."

I stared at the thing. There was one little garden snake as hanging out the bag, which had the words: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!

I wasn't particularly happy. Not with Annabeth or her mom, but with the gods in general for this quest, for getting us blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. At this rate, we'd never make it to L.A. in one piece, much less before the summer solstice.

What had Medusa said?

Don't be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue.

I got up, and said, "I'll be back."

"Kenna," Annabeth called after me. "What are you-"

I searched the back of the warehouse until I found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her most recent transactions, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording studios, West Hollywood, California. I folded up the bill and stuffed it in my pocket. In the cash register I found twenty dollars, a few drachmas, and some packing slips for _Hermes Overnight Express_, each with a small leather pouch for coins. I rummaged around the rest of the office until I found the right-size box.

I went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:

Athena and Poseidon

Mount Olympus

600th Floor,

Empire State Building

New York, NY

This is both your fault

Kenna Pyrrhus

Ps. Say Hi to my mom for me.

They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."

I poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a _pop!_

"I guess I am impertinent."

"Come on," Annabeth said, seemingly resigned to the fact that I had a talent for pissing off the gods. "We need a new plan."

**/Line Break/**

*According to Ovid, Medusa was actually a priestess of Athena when she was raped by Poseidon in Athena's temple. And yet, it is Medusa that gets blamed for defiling Athena's temple, which was common practice in Ancient Greece. Yeah, the ancient world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, it was pretty messed up.

**/Line Break/**

**I'm so sorry for not updating! I was banned from the internet for a whole week! But it's ok now, that shouldn't happen again.**

**Congratulations to **_**Nymphadora Jackson**_** for guessing correctly where Kenna's water powers come from! You may send me a PM for an idea for an OC and I will add him/her to the story. Also, here, have virtual cookies! (::) (::) (::) (::)**

**Like I said before, my updates won't be as quick as before. School is coming up, and I will have stuff to do. I will try and update at least once a week, but we'll see how it all pans out.**

**For those of you who ask, I don't think I'll do any one-shots. If I do, it would be to test the waters for a new story.**

**Have a nice day! Or evening, or dusk, or dawn, or twilight, or midday, or whatever it is for your time zone.**


	15. Chapter 15

(This is the last time I'm going to say this)

I don't own PJO!

**Pink really isn't your color**

_Last time on FotW:_

_I poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!_

"_I guess I am impertinent."_

"_Come on," Annabeth said, seemingly resigned to the fact that I had a talent for pissing off the gods. "We need a new plan."_

**/Line Break/**

We were pretty miserable that night.

We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that that local kids had obviously been using for parties. I helped Grover pick up what garbage we could in a plastic bag that was left behind.

We'd taken some food and blankets from Medusa's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day, and we were content to leave it at that.

We decided to sleep in shifts, and I took the first one.

Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. Grover fluttered up to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.

"Go ahead and sleep," I told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."

He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Kenna."

I almost asked 'What does?', but then I remembered his face when we were picking up trash.

"Yeah, humans are good at messing things up."

He gave me a surprised look but nodded. "I know. No offense to you, but humans just seem to be clogging everything up so fast…At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"Pan? As in the minor god of the wild?"

"Minor! The Great God Pan isn't minor! What do you think I want searchers license for?"

A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of the trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries, wildflowers, and clean rainwater, things that must have been in these woods once.

"Tell me about the search," I said.

Grover looked at me, before he explained.

"The God of the Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," He told me. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!'. When humans heard the news, they believed it, and have been pillaging from Pans kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe he has died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."

"And you want to be a searcher?"

"It's my life's dream," He said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand…the statue you saw back there-"

"Oh, right, I'm sorry." Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks, so did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."

"Hang on" I said, worry suddenly shocking my system. "_The first?_"

Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen again."

"Not once in two thousand years?"

"No."

"But you want to go. Are you sure that's what _you_ want? Not that you feel obligated because your dad did it too?"

He chuckled to himself a little. "Chiron said the same thing. And no, it's not because of my dad did, or my uncle for that matter. I… I just, feel like I'm the one that can do it. You know what I mean?"

"Honestly, I can't say that I do, but if that's what you want, I'll support you." He had a shocked look on his face. Then I fixed him with a glare. "But you better make it back, or gods help me I'll roast you alive."

He shivered slightly, but nodded, before changing topics.

"Oh, I forgot. But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me-"

"Yeah, Annabeth will have a plan all figured out." I said, not happy that she nearly got us (mostly her and Grover) killed twice today.

"Don't be so hard on her, Kenna. She's had a tough life, but she's a good person. After all she forgave me…"

The mood became even more somber with that admission, and for Grover, brought the feelings of failure and worthlessness back. I didn't give Grover a moment to wallow in guilt.

"What did you say about Medusa's?"

"That, that Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."

"What do you mean?" I asked

"The fur-Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy…why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."

"Are you sure? They looked aggressive to me."

Grover shook his head. "They were screeching at us: Where is it? Where?"

"It?" I said, confused. That didn't make any sense…unless…

"I know, it doesn't make sense, but if we've misunderstood something about his quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt…" He looked at me like he was looking for an answer.

What if…what if the thief stole something from Hades too? But I didn't bother speaking the idea, not to Grover yet. He had enough on his mind.

Grover turned to look at the night sky, not that there were any stars to see, the light pollution from the city blocked everything out in an orange hue. "How about _I _take first watch, huh? You get some sleep."

I wanted to protest, but he started playing Mozart, soft and sweet, and my tiredness finally overcame me.

**/Line Break/**

I stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit. Grey mist creatures swirled and churned all around me, whispering rags of smoke that I somehow knew were the spirits of the dead. They pulled and tugged at my clothes, trying to pull me back, but I felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the chasm.

Looking down made me dizzy.

The pit yawned so wide and was so completely black, that I knew it to be bottomless. Yet I had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something evil and terrible.

_The little heroine,_ an amused voice echoed from the depths of the pit. _Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do._

The voice was deep and ancient, cold and heavy. It wrapped around me like sheets of lead.

_They have misled you, girl, _It said. _Barter with me, and I will give you power that you cannot imagine._

I tried to cry out; to tell it to leave me alone, but my voice wouldn't work.

Cold laughter rang out from the chasm.

An invisible force pulled me forward. It would drag me into the pit unless I stood firm.

_Help me rise, girl._ The voice became hungrier._ Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow to the treacherous gods!_

The spirits of the dead whispered around me, _No! Wake!_

That's when I realized that it wasn't interested in pulling me in; it was trying to pull itself _out_.

_Good, _it murmured. _Good._

_Wake! _The dead whispered. _Wake!_

**/Line Break/**

Someone jostled me and I pushed out. Annabeth landed on her but with an: _oomph!_

"Well," She said, "the zombie lives."

I was trembling from the dream. I could still feel the grip of that _thing_ around my chest. "Sorry about that. How long was I asleep?"

Annabeth stood up from the ground. "Long enough for me to cook breakfast." She tossed me a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar. I wasn't too hungry so I elected not to eat them; they were always greasy and salty. "And Grover did some exploring. Look he found a friend."

Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy on his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink poodle.

The poodle yapped at me suspiciously. Grover said, "No, she's not."

I blinked. "Um, are you…talking to it?"

The poodle growled.

"It's a he" Grover corrected. "And he is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

Grover ignored my question. "Kenna, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Kenna."

I looked back at the dog. "That name really doesn't suit you. And neither does that color."

"Kenna, be polite. I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle." Said Annabeth

The poodle growled.

I said hello to Gladiola.

Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 dollar reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

"And you earned his friendship in less than two hours." I deadpanned

"Yes" said Grover.

"So, we turn in Gladiola," Explained Annabeth in what I figured was her strategy voice, "we get the money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. That's simple enough."

"Not another bus," I said warily.

"No," Annabeth agreed.

She pointed downhill, towards the train tracks we hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west bound train leaves at noon."

**/Line Break/**

We spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through the hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.

We weren't attacked once, but I didn't relax. I felt we were traveling in a fast moving display case, being watched from above and maybe below. That something was waiting for an opportunity.

I tried to keep a low profile because my name and picture were splattered across the front pages of several newspapers. The _Trenton Register-News_ showed a photo taken by a tourist as I got off the Greyhound bus. I had a wild look in my eyes.

The picture's caption read:

Twelve year-old Kenna Pyrrhus, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of her mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where she accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Pyrrhus left the scene. No one was injured. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the girl to be traveling with two teenage accomplices. Her neighbor, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to her capture.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told me. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.

The rest of the day I spent alternatively pacing the length of the train (I am ADHD after all) or looking out the windows.

Once, I spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch. The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught my eye and waved.

Another time, toward evening, I saw something huge move through the woods. It looked like a lion, but it was the size of a Hummer, the Nemean Lion. Its fur glinted gold in the evening light. Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.

Our reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to buy tickets as far as Denver, and just barely afforded a berth in the sleeper car, but it wasn't all that comfortable anyways.

Grover kept snoring and bleating, waking me up. Once, we had to get his shoe back on when it fell off in a corridor before anyone noticed.

"So," Annabeth asked me, once we'd got the shoe readjusted. "Who wants your help?"

I blinked at her before I remembered that I talk in my sleep.

I was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time I had a 'conversation' with that thing in the pit. But it was bothering me so much I finally told her.

"That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."

"I know, but who else could it be? Who else stands to gain from…from…" I slowed down in realization. I should have known. What other endless pit was there in Greek mythology? "things just got a whole lot worse than we thought." I spoke my thought out loud.

Annabeth gave me a confused look, but I shook my head and kept my conclusions to myself. If I was right, there was very little I could do, plus I still had to go to the Underworld and get confirmation from my Uncle.

"Just don't make a deal with whoever it is. Lord of the dead or not, deals with immortals can have serious consequences."

We sat in silence for a long while, me gazing out the window, her reading a book while twisting the ring on her necklace.

I wanted to ask where it was from, but I didn't feel like I should. I didn't really know how to ask about it any ways. She looked like she was reliving sad memories.

Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13th, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis.

Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which was shining in the sunlight. It was a nice sight, simple and elegant, yet complex at the same time.

"I want to do that," She sighed

"What?" I asked

"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Kenna?"

"No, just pictures."

"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever; something that'll last a thousand years."

I really couldn't help myself, I laughed. "Sorry, but, can you event sit still and draw all day?"

Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "Yes." She said stiffly

"Hey, I don't mean to sound mean, I'm sure you will be a great architect."

We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver.

Grover stretched. Before he was even awake, he said, "Food"

"Come on goat boy, sightseeing" Annabeth said

"Sightseeing?"

"The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"

Grover and I exchanged looks.

Grover didn't want to go, and I didn't care much either way, but we shouldn't be separated from each other unless we have to. Besides, I didn't have anything better to do.

Grover sighed. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."

The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. We threaded our way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other artifacts and stuff from the 1880s. It wasn't all that thrilling, a few interesting facts here and there. Annabeth was spouting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover was munching on jelly beans.

I kept looking around at the crowd, and my bracelet was feeling warm, meaning there was a monster. "You smell anything?" I murmured to Grover.

He took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."

If I didn't have my bracelet telling me otherwise, I would have left it at that. I knew better though. And I had a very bad feeling.

"Guys," I said. "I think we should leave. I'm getting some bad vibes here."

Annabeth ignored me and dragged us to the line for the elevators. We got shoehorned into the car with this 'Plump' lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. And my bracelet felt like it was going to burn me.

Darn. The lady was definitely a monster, and we were going to be stuck with her.

We started going up, inside the Arch. I'd never been inside an elevator that went in a curve, and my stomach didn't like it.

"No parents?" the monster-lady asked us.

She had beady eyes: pointy and coffee (hopefully)-stained teeth. She wore a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that made her look like a blue-jean blimp.

Before I could say anything, Annabeth told her, "They're below; scared of heights."

"Oh, the poor darlings." I felt like smacking Annabeth. There was no-way that the parents of three different kids all had acrophobia.

The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious.

Just my luck, there were actually two monsters.

"Sonny, is that his name?" asked Grover.

"No." the monster answered with a smile.

At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side, and the river on the other. The view was nice, but I wasn't sure how much Zeus liked me being three hundred feet in the air, even if I wasn't flying. I was ready to go pretty quick.

Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the widows bigger, and a see-through floor (I refrained from telling her that that would probably make the structure weaker).

She would have stayed there all day, but luckily the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.

I steered Grover and Annabeth toward the exit, loaded them on the elevator, and was about to get in myself when I realized there were already two other tourist inside. No room for me.

"Next car, ma'am." The park ranger said.

"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."

But that would put her and Grover in danger, and take too much time, so I said, "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom"_ I hope_

Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp.

Now it was just me, the two monsters, the park ranger, and a little boy and his parents.

I looked at the monster with a hard stare, but she only smiled and let her forked tongue flick through her teeth.

I didn't even blink at that.

"Do we really have to do this here? There are innocent bystanders."

Before she even opened her mouth the 'Chihuahua' jumped down and started yapping at me.

"Now, now, sonny," she said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."

"Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a Doggie!"

His parents held him back.

The 'Chihuahua' bared his teeth at me, foam dripping from his black lips

"Well, son," the monster-lady sighed. "If you insist."

Dread pooled in my stomach. "Um, did you just call it your son?"

"Yes, he's a chimera, not an 'it'." She said a little fiercely.

She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing her scaly, green arms. When she smiled, I saw her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were sideways slits, like a reptile's.

The 'Chimera' barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to the size of a lion, and the bark became a roar.

The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him to the exit, strait into the park ranger, who stood paralyzed, gaping at the monster.

The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a goat, and a serpent for a tail: a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out its' shaggy rear end. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its' neck and the plate-sized dog tag was now very easy to read:

CHIMERA

RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS

IF FOUND, PLEAS CALL TATARUS-EXT.954.

I hadn't moved at all yet, and I knew that as soon as I moved, the creature would lunge.

The snake lady let out a hissing laugh. "Be honored, Kenna Pyrrhus. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"

I quirked an eyebrow at her. "Really? You don't look like an anteater."

She howled, her reptilian features turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia; naming that ridiculous animal after me! For that, Kenna Pyrrhus, my son shall destroy you!"

The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. I managed to leap aside and dodge the bite.

I ended up next to the family and park ranger, who were still in shock.

"Get out of here!" I shouted at them, drawing my sword. I couldn't let them get hurt; I couldn't live with myself if I did. I ran to the other side of the deck, yelling, "Hey, Chihuahua!"

The Chimera turned faster than I thought possible.

It opened its' mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame right at me.

I just kept my stance, and let the flames tickle my skin as it swirled around me. As he stopped breathing on me I saw the wall behind me was melted away, and the carpet had little tongues of flame eating away at it. The flames that had touched me were happily blazing away, not even affecting my clothes, and Firestorm was wreathed in flames.

"My turn." I murmured, more to myself than anyone in particular.

I pushed my free hand out at the Chimera and sent my own flames at him. He yelped in surprise (which made me wince slightly at the sound) and started thrashing, trying to put out the fire in its' mane. I focused sending more flames at it, and soon it was enveloped in a scorching hot bonfire.

In a last ditch attempt to kill me the snake head/tail shot out at my legs, but thanks to Luke's training I quickly beheaded it before it reached me.

I let the flames die out and before me was nothing but a pile of ash and monster dust where the Chimera had once been.

Out of nowhere a scream of rage was released to my left. I turned around in time to see Echidna shove me out the opening her son had made.

**/Mount Olympus, Hestia's Palace, living room/**

It was late in the day, and Hestia sat on her living room couch. She kept her eyes on the hearth of her home, keeping a watchful eye on her daughter.

At first she had been terrified; her first and only child had been attacked almost right off the bat, and by her (Slightly) younger brother's minions at that. Had she the opportunity, she would have informed Hades that he was targeting her child and 'give him hell', as the mortals put it, for even thinking of harming her daughter.

As it was she had been forbidden contact with anyone outside of the council, which, unfortunately, did not include Hades.

And then, not long after the Furies had attacked, she walked into Medusa's lair. And Hestia was proud that her daughter had been able to sense something was wrong. If nothing else, it meant she had good survival instincts.

She was mildly surprised that she had sent Medusa's head to Poseidon _and_ Athena. In fact she found it humorous that she had the guts to point out a god's mistakes, she just hoped she didn't overdo it. The gods were high strung at the best of times, and Athena had an ego to match her father's, which was quite a feat.

The only reason Poseidon hadn't apologized before was because Athena punished Medusa, who was an innocent victim in the matter.

Poseidon was well aware of his faults. He was easily tempted, and his moods could change as quick as a flash. But with the help of his wife and kids (Triton and Rhode), as well as Hestia herself, he was able to curb his desires. Mostly. Amphitrite was now pregnant with his new godchild, and Triton was hoping for another sister.

At the moment, she was watching Kenna face down Echidna and one of her Chimera. Hestia was only half paying attention, lost in her own thoughts, when she caught something Echidna said.

"_Be honored, Kenna Pyrrhus. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"_

At first she couldn't believe what she just heard, she rewound the flame vision to hear it again.

Then she felt a burning rage build up in her, growing in intensity until…

"**ZEUS!"**

Over in Zeus's and Hera's joined palace, the king of the gods, one of the Big Three, slayer of Kronos, paled at the sound of his eldest sister's voice.

He looked around for somewhere to hide when there was a furious bashing on his palace's doors.

"**ZEUS! OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!"**

Zeus flashed off Olympus and into his favorite airport.

Hera got up from her chair where she had been watching her husband with an amused twinkle in her eyes, and opened the door.

Just outside was a furious redheaded goddess, who upon seeing her youngest sister, schooled her features. The only sign left of her anger was the malicious fire in her flaming red eyes, and the barely suppressed rage in her voice.

"Good evening Hera, is Zeus in? I need a word with him."

Hera shivered a little at her tone, but gave her a smile nonetheless.

"He will be, just give me a moment" and she snapped her fingers.

With a crash Zeus face planted on the marble floor. He looked up to see the fiery eyes of his pursuer.

"Now my dear, little Zeus, what's this about you sending Echidna to 'test' my daughter?" Hestia said in a semi-sweet voice that Zeus knew promised pain. Lots and lots of pain.

**/St. Louis, MO., 546ft. and falling/**

I'd like to say that on the way down I had some deep revelation, laughed in the face of death, came to terms with my mortality, et cetera.

Truthfully though? It went by so fast I barely realized it.

With a massive splash that would win me the trophy for the world's biggest cannonball, I hit the water. There was a whiteout of bubbles, and I sank through the murk. I half expected to get embedded so deep in the mud they would never find my body. But my impact with the water hadn't hurt. Which didn't make sense; when you hit water going that fast it should feel like concrete, but it did feel like that at all.

I settled on the river bottom soundlessly. A cat fish big enough to eat smelly Gabe lurched away into the gloom. Clouds of silt and garbage-beer bottles, old shoes, plastic bags-swirled up all around me.

My first realization was that I wasn't wet. I could feel the coolness of the water all around me, but I felt perfectly dry.

No way, I thought.

I held out my hand and focused on what I had felt when I was on fire, when I held my hand inside the hearth, and a little lighter-sized flame appeared in my palm. I let it go out after a short while.

That's when the strangest realization hit me: I was underwater, breathing normally.

I stood up, thigh-deep in mud. My legs felt shaky, and my hands trembled. I should have been dead. The fact that I wasn't seemed like…well, a miracle. I imagined (or was it real?) a woman's voice that sounded like my mother: _Kenna, what do you say?_

"Um…thanks, Poseidon." Underwater, my voice sounded weird, like I did on recordings.

The only answer I got was the _Fump-fump-fump_ of a riverboat churning the water above me, swirling the silt around.

There was that female voice again, calling my name. I knew it wasn't in my head this time; her words seemed to come from everywhere, rippling through the water like sonar.

"Where are you?" I called out

Then through the gloom, I saw her-a woman the color of water, a ghost in the current, floating not five feet in front of me. She had long billowing hair, and her eyes, barely visible, were sea green.

_I am a messenger child; Go to the beach in Santa Monica._

"What?"

_It is Poseidon's will. Before you descend into the Underworld, you must go to Santa Monica. Please, Kenna, I cannot stay long. The river here is too foul for my presence._

"But… how…"

_You must go to Santa Monica, Kenna. And, Kenna, do not trust the gifts…_

"Gifts?" I asked, "What gifts? Wait!"

She made one more attempt to speak, but the sound was gone. Her image melted away, and it was as if she was never there.

I had to get back up to the surface. The Chimera might be gone, but its fat, snaky mother wasn't, and waiting to finish me off. At the very least, the police would be arriving, trying to figure out who and what torched a national monument. And they would have some serious questions if they saw me. Joy.

I kicked up through the muck and swam to the surface.

I came ashore next to a floating McDonald's.

A block away, almost every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers reminded me of Times Square on New Year's Eve.

A little girl said, "Mama! That girl walked out of the river."

"That's nice, dear." Her mother said, craning her neck to watch the ambulances.

"But she's dry!"

"That's nice, dear"

A news woman was talking to the camera:

"A slight possibility of a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch."

_Survivors_, I felt a surge of relief flow through me. Maybe the park ranger and that family made it out safely. I hoped Annabeth and Grover were okay.

I tried to push through the crowd to see what was going on inside the police line.

"…an adolescent girl," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent girl somehow setting off the two explosions that occurred today. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities…"

I backed away, trying to keep my head down. I had a long way to go around the police perimeter. Uniformed officers and news reporters were everywhere.

I'd almost lost hope of finding them when a familiar voice bleated, "Kennn-a!"

I turned and got tackled by Grover's goat hug. He said, "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"

Annabeth stood behind him, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see me. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"

"I incinerated a Chimera before I sort of… fell."

"Kenna! Six hundred and thirty feet?"

Behind us, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" the crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. Recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy on the observation deck. She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua-"

"Okay ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down, your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."

"I'm not crazy! This girl roasted the dog, and then she was pushed out!" then she saw me. "There she is! That's the girl!"

I turned quickly and pulled Annabeth and Grover after me. We disappeared into the crowd.

"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"

I told them what had happened as we walked back to the train station; the roast Chimera, Echidna, my high-dive act, and the underwater lady's message.

"Whoa," said Grover. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from a god, especially Poseidon."

Before Annabeth could respond, we passed another reporter doing a news break, and I almost froze in my tracts when he said, "Kenna Pyrrhus. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the girl who may have caused these explosions fits the description of a young woman wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. _And _the girl is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Kenna Pyrrhus."

We ducked around the news van and slipped into an ally.

"First things first," I told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"

Somehow, we made it back to the Amtrak station without being spotted. We got onboard the train before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind us.

**/Line Break/**

**Hi there!**

**I hoped I did well on that 'fight' scene. Really, if you bring a fire-breathing monster to kill a child of Hestia you're just asking to lose.**

**Interestingly enough, Percy's tactfulness, or lack thereof, makes it easier for him to get into uncomfortable topics. So Annabeth's heart to heart about growing up with their dad will come up later.**

**Coming up, Kenna meets Ares for the first time.**

**Thank you to all you reviewers and followers, your support is very much appreciated**

**Have a nice day!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

_Last time on FotW:_

_Before Annabeth could respond, we passed another reporter doing a news break, and I almost froze in my tracts when he said, "I Pyrrhus. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the girl who may have caused these explosions fits the description of a young woman wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the girl is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of I Pyrrhus."_

_We ducked around the news van and slipped into an ally._

"_First things first," I told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"_

_Somehow, we made it back to the Amtrak station without being spotted. We got onboard the train before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind us._

/Line Break/

The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't taken a shower since we left camp, and I was sure we showed/smelled it.

"Let's try and contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

"But I thought we couldn't use phones?"

"I'm not talking about phones."

We wondered through downtown for about an hour, though I wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt strange compared with the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains loomed over us, like a giant wave ready to crash down on the city.

Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; if a cop didn't think we are up to trouble he should be banned from the coffee and doughnuts.

"What are we doing exactly?" I asked as Grover took out the spray gun.

"Its seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car whipped me out."

I fished a quarter out of my pocket and gave it Grover, which left me out of mortal money.

"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping.

"What are you talking about?"

He fed in the quarters and set the knob to **FINE MIST**. "I-M'ing"

"Instant messaging?"

"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"What self-respecting goddess lets herself be summoned with a spray gun?"

But my question went unanswered as Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."

Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into the colors of the rainbow.

Annabeth held her palm out to me. "Drachma, please."

I handed one over.

She raised the coin over her head and said, "O goddess, accept our offering."

She threw the drachma into the rainbow, which shimmered gold as it received payment.

"Half-Blood Hill." Annabeth requested

After a few moments the mist shifted and I was seeing strawberry fields, Long Island sound was in the distance. We seemed to be on the pouch of the Big House.

Standing with his back to us at the railing was a guy with head of familiar sandy-blond hair in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding his sword and staring intently down at the meadow.

"Luke!" I called

He spun around, eyes wide.

"Kenna!" his scared face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth too? Thank the gods! Are you guys alright?"

"We're…uh…fine." Annabeth stammered. She was madly trying to straighten her shirt, and comb some lose hairs out of her face. All the while she was trying to suppress the blush on her checks. "We thought-Chiron-I mean-"

"He's down at the cabins." Luke smile died out. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover Okay?"

"I'm right here," Grover called. He positioned himself so he could stand in Luke's field of view. "What kind of issues?"

Just then a Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its' stereo blasting away. As the car pulled into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.

"Chiron had to-What's that noise?" he yelled, his image vibrating with the music.

"I'll take care of it!" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, come on!"

"What? But-"

"Give Kenna the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.

Grover handed me the nozzle, muttering about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle of Delphi. He ran out when I gave him a glare.

I readjusted the hose so I could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke.

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Kenna. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how, probably the same scumbag who summoned the Hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena's backing Zeus."

In the next stall, I heard Annabeth and some guy (probably the driver) arguing with each other, then the music died down.

"So what's your status?" Luke asked me. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."

I told him what had happened since we left, excluding the dreams. It felt nice to forget I was out on a dangerous quest, and just pretend I was still at camp. I hadn't realized how much time had passed 'til the beeper for the spray gun went off, telling me I only had a few more moments before the water shut off.

"I wish I could be there," Luke told me. "We can't help much from here I'm afraid."

The driver screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln roared out of the carwash.

"You better go see what that was." Luke said. "Listen, are you wearing those flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."

"Oh, yeah!" I said, doing my best not to look like a liar. "They've come in handy."

"Really?" he grinned. "They fit and everything?"

The water shut off and the mist began to fade.

"Well take care of yourself in Denver," Luke called, his voice starting to sound far away. "And tell Grover it'll be okay this time! Nobody will get turned into a tree if he just-"

But the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded into nothingness, leaving me in an empty, wet car wash.

Annabeth and Grover came around the corner laughing, but stopped when they saw my face. Annabeth's smile fell from her face. "What happened, Kenna? What did Luke say?"

"Not much," I said, my stomach felling like a big three cabin: empty. "Come on, let's get some dinner."

**/Line Break/**

We had found ourselves sitting in a chrome diner. All around us, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically at us. "Well?"

"We'd like to order dinner." I said.

"You kids got money to pay for it?"

Grover's lip quivered. I was afraid he'd start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger.

I was cooking up a sob story in my head when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's red head light glared. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster on each side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather, but it looked like human skin.

The guy on the bike would make pro-wrestlers look like babies in comparison. He was dressed in a read muscle shirt, black jeans, and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face I'd ever seen. He had an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scared from many, many fights. And is face seemed familiar somehow.

As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, like they were in a trance, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their previous conversations. The waitress blinked, as if someone pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids got money to pay for it?"

The biker said, "It's on me." He slid into our booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window.

He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"

He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She spun around, and then marched back toward the kitchen.

The biker looked at me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but I felt this…power, radiating off him, giving off a malevolent feeling. I didn't like it; he made me feel uncomfortable with all the hate, anger, and rage coming off him. It was like there were waves of raw emotion were slamming into me.

He gave me a wicked grin. "So you're old ash-face's kid, huh?"

I would have been surprised at the question, if it wasn't for the fact I could literally feel the guy's power. He was obviously a god, because Mr. D also radiated power, though he gave off different feelings (mainly resentment and boredom).

"What do you want?" I said calmly, ignoring the insult to my mom. For now.

He seemed surprised that I wasn't shaking in fear or anger.

Annabeth's eyes flashed me a warning. "Kenna, this is-"

The biker raised his hand.

"Let the girl figure it out. So, do you know who I am little cousin?"

With that little clue it wasn't hard to figure out (although I knew I had a _lot_ of cousins) as he was the only god I expected to radiate feelings like this. It also helped that he looked a lot like Jessie with is sneer.

"You're Ares, god of war, and Jessie's dad. So, what do you want?"

He grinned and took of his shades. Where his eye should have been, there was only fire, and not the comfortable kind. It was the fire of war, the kind of fire that causes pain and suffering. "That's right kid. I heard you lost Jessie's sword."

"So?" feeling slightly afraid of what he might do.

"That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? As for what I'm here for- I heard you were in town, and I got a little proposition for you."

The waitress came back with heaping trays of food- cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes.

Ares handed her a few gold drachmas.

She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't…"

Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"

The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.

"You can't do that," told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."

Ares laughed. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon punk? You should; it's a dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition; I need you to do me a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

Ares shrugged. "It's nothing much, I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little…date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted and I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

"If it's so simple why don't you go get it yourself?"

The fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter.

"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you a chance to prove yourself, Kenna Pyrrhus. Will you prove yourself a coward? Like you little mommy?"

My expression grew stern. "Not interested. I've already got a quest, ask someone else."

Ares fiery eyes made me see things, terrible things; blood and smoke, bodies and burning towns. "I know all about your quest punk. When that _item_ was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful…" he liked his lips, the very thought of a weapon that powerful making him hungry. "Well… if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. After all, I'm the one that told Poseidon my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."

"You told him Hades stole the bolt?"

"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war; it's one of the oldest tricks in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."

"I'll keep that in mind." I deadpanned. Yeah, thanks a lot.

"Look, just do my little job and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

I wanted to say no, but I knew we needed the help. We had no mortal money to pay for any sort of transportation, and no food other than what was right in front of us.

"Fine, we'll do it."

"Good. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride. I'll meet you when you're done."

There was a brief flash as my eyes were closed, and when they were open again, Ares was gone.

"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Kenna. This isn't good."

I stared out the window, noticing that the motorcycle had dis appeared.

I looked down at my cheeseburger, which looked less appealing than before. "Why does he need us?"

"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength, and that's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom some times."

"But this water park… he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"

Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other.

Annabeth said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."

**/Line Break/**

**Hi**

**I'm sorry that this chapter is so short, my muse wants to make a Skyrim fic right now, but don't worry; I'll still finish this fic first.**

**One of my fine reviewers suggested a 'gods read_'. For the most part I find that they are done badly. Specifically, I don't like how the fates make an appearance and tell them all to read the books to change the future. It is an overused concept and vary often poorly done. However, I do think the concept of gods reading about what happened is a good idea if it's read after the events had happened.**

**If you'd like to write it, send me what would be your first chapter and I'll pick who gets it. The one I chose will start posting AFTER I have finished this book.**

**Have a nice day!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

_Last time on FotW:_

_I looked down at my cheeseburger, which looked less appealing than before. "Why does he need us?"_

"_Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength, and that's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom some times."_

"_But this water park… he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"_

_Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other. _

_Annabeth said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."_

**/Line Break/**

The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the waterpark. Judging by the sign, it used to be called WATER LAND, but now it just read WATRAD, due to the bashed in letters.

The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside the park, huge, dry, waterslides and rusted tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to the pools. Old tickets and posters were blowing around or fluttering in the wind, proving that the place was well and truly deserted. As the night was coming on, the place looked more and more like a bad, cheesy horror movie.

"Kind of makes you wonder why his 'girlfriend' still likes him if he's taking her here." I stated

"Careful Kenna, the gods don't take well to being insulted." Annabeth warned.

Grover said "_Maia!_"

He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, and then made a stumbling landing on the other side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"

I melted the lock off and walked in, Annabeth in tow.

Grover pouted as we walked by. "That's not fair."

I stuck my tongue out at him.

The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking the attractions for the tunnel of love. There were some of the weirdest names for the rides too; there was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and 'Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?'

There were no monsters, no people, and no noise except our echoing footsteps.

We found a souvenir shop that was still open. There were tons of snow globes, pencils and pens, postcards, but most importantly-

"Clothes" Annabeth said, following my train of thought. "Fresh clothes"

"But you can't just-"

"Watch me." I told Grover.

I snatched a row of various garments and disappeared into a changing room.

It wasn't long before we walked out looking like walking advertisements for a defunct waterpark, with backpacks full of extra clothes. It was nice to get some new ones, because I had been forced to leave my duffle bag on the train, or else we might have been caught by the police who were searching the train for me.

We continued the search for the ride. The whole park felt tense, like it was waiting for something.

"So, any idea why Aphrodite is going out with Ares?"

"Well, Hephaestus, the blacksmith, was crippled when he was a baby; got thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't the most handsome god you'll meet. Clever with his hands, and all, but he doesn't hold Aphrodite's attention long. It's kind of on and off for them."

"What do you mean?"

"Occasionally they back together to try and work it out, but it doesn't work. They did come close during the renaissance, though, that's why there was so much art and creativity."

"Huh" was the only response I could come up with.

We walked on for a little bit, then stopped.

In front of us was an empty pool that was cracked and grimy. It was at least fifty feet across and shaped like a bowl.

Around the rim, a dozen bronze cupids were poised ready to fire with their winds out on the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into (when there was water anyway). The sign above it read:

THRILL RIDE O' LOVE

THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNLE OF LOVE!

Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."

Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink and white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little harts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading sunlight was Ares' bronze shield, a nicely polished circle of metal.

"This is too easy," I said. "There's something we're missing here."

Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest cupid.

"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder…"

I looked over and saw the symbol, and it struck me then why Ares was afraid to come back.

"Of Course!" I shouted.

Annabeth and Grover stared at me. I blushed under their sudden attention, but continued to fill them in. "Hephaestus once trapped Ares and Aphrodite, and had the gods make fun of them. He probably scared them off and booby-trapped the shield to get the two when they came back."

"Then how will we get the shield? We can't just leave it." Said Grover

I looked down at the boat, I thought hard. What could I do to get? I was sure I could at least get to the shield before the trap was triggered, but the problem was I would be inside a trap designed for use on gods.

Great. Just, great.

"Right, I'm going down there then."

"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, but I got the feeling he was trying to be brave, which was sweet.

"No, I want you in the air with the flying shoes. If need be, you can airlift me out, just in case. Remember, you're my flying ace here."

Grover puffed out his chest a little in pride. Good, he needed some confidence.

"Sure. But what could go wrong?" I groaned. "What?

"You just jinxed it. Now something _has_ to go wrong."

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

I walked over to the pool and slid down to the bottom. I approached the boat slowly, keeping my eyes open for anything suspicious.

The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a woman's pink scarf. As I looked at the scene I tried to picture Aphrodite and Ares here, meeting in a junked-out amusement-park ride. Just, why? Then I noticed something I had mostly ignored on the way in: there were mirrors all the way around the pool, facing this spot. That must be it; Ares wanted to ogle his girlfriend from all angles.

I gave the scarf a glance. It didn't seem to be attached to anything trap-like, so picked it up carefully. There was a rush of sensations coming from it; it smelled wonderful, like lavender or some other fragrant flower. There was also a strong pull of desire and love (the romantic, physical kind, not familial love).

Without a doubt this was Aphrodite's girdle. I stuffed it in my pocket, and its magic pull lessened. I was going to have to keep it away from Annabeth; she would be too tempted to use it on Luke.

I turned my attention to the shield. I looked around carefully, looking for pressure plates or trip-wires. I saw none and reached for the shield.

The moment I touched the shield, I cursed under my breath. My hand had broken something, and I pulled it back, revealing a small golden filament that I only knew was there from its glint.

A trip-wire

Noise erupted around me, of a million gears grinding, as if I was inside the world's largest and most complicated clock.

Grover yelled, "Kenna!"

Up on the rim, the cupids were drawing their bowstrings back. Before I could even think of taking cover, they shot, but not at me. They shot at each other, across the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing overhead and anchoring themselves on the other side, forming a giant asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, forming a net.

I grabbed the shield and ran, but going up the pool's slope was harder than going down.

"Come on!" Annabeth shouted.

They were trying to hold open a gap for me, but wherever their hands connected, the golden threads started to wrap around their hands. And when Annabeth tried to slice them with her knife, it just passed through it, doing no damage whatsoever.

The cupids' heads flipped open, and out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around like the lights of a football stadium, filling the pool with near-blinding light, and a loudspeaker boomed in an automated voice: "LIVE TO OLYMPUS IN ONE MINUTE… FIFTY-NINE SECONDS, FIFTY-EIGHT, FIFTY-SEVEN, FIFTY-SIX…"

I'd almost made it to the rim and when the mirrors slid opened and thousands of metallic-

Annabeth screamed and jumped away, and what little opening she and Grover had for me closed up.

It was an army of metallic spiders, which Annabeth was deathly afraid of.

I wasn't particularly scared of insects; I just didn't want them on or near me. But trying to hold your cool with thousands and thousands of bugs coming at you just isn't going to happen.

I scrambled away from the rim, trying to get away. I threw balls of fire at them, and that didn't seem to faze them a bit. I climbed onto the boat and shot streams of fire at them, but it they still didn't slow down

"TWENTY-FIVE, TWENTY FOUR…" blared the speaker

When the spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to pin me down I started to freak out. The strands were easy to break at first, but they just kept coming. I kicked one away, taking a chunk of my new surf shoe with it.

Flames were starting to pop in and out of existence along my skin more and more frequently.

Then I thought of something. The metal in the spiders had to be melted at some point for Hephaestus to work with them, the flames just needed to be hotter. A lot hotter.

"EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX…"

I concentrated on my fire; on making it bigger, and hotter.

/**Underworld, Hades' Palace, Hades POV (I know you've all been waiting for it, so here it is.)/**

Paper work, paper work, and guess what? MORE PAPER WORK!

That was the daily life of the Lord of the Dead, it almost seemed like he was turning into the god of paper work and the Lord of Bureaucracy.

There was a swish of a small door opening and a bronze colored TV rose up in front of Hades. It stared announcing: "Live, from Denver Colorado, is _Messing with Ares_, brought to you courtesy of Hephaestus' Television Services. And don't forget our sponsor, Hermes shipping co.; guaranteed to be on-time, all the time.

Hades huffed in annoyance, but continued to watch. It had been half a decade since the two lovers were last caught, and the show provided a welcome break to the monotony of his day.

But when the footage began streaming in, he saw that it wasn't Ares or Aphrodite at all.

'_Sea spawn_' thought the king of the underworld in distaste.

He had been unable to see the girl himself, because normally Hestia would provide a viewing flame for his use, if he asked nicely for it. But as of late, Zeus had her under house-arrest. Now she couldn't even leave her Palace, except to tend the hearth in the council/throne room. Though judging from the video that Apollo had posted on GodTube, it was well worth having Zeus run around Olympus with his undergarments scorching his ass.

He could, of course, use Iris-messages to watch, but then he could be spotted. Not to mention the fact that she charged triple for calls from the underworld, something about interference or other. Hephaestus had managed to solve that issue for the most part for the television, though his sports channel was always a bit fuzzy, but hades hardly ever used the damn thing these days. The reality drama's that were constantly on air were mediocre at best, and brain-cell killing at worst. But that was how Dionysus liked his programming, and seeing as he was in chief of programming, he got what he wanted.

But it seemed Ares had talked the little mortal into fetching his shield. She probably wasn't even smart enough to realize Ares knew that the trap was there.

Then the girl was suddenly enveloped in a massive fireball that was growing bigger and bigger. Strong winds started to feed it the massive amounts of oxygen it required to grow, and when the pool was full of a raging fire storm, the flames turned from red and yellow to deep blue and violet.

As quickly as it had started, the flames retreated, sucking back into the girl. It its wake, there was a pool of liquid metal that was very slowly beginning to cool.

The girl waded through the scorching liquid with ease and clamored out of the pool.

That was when the god got a good look at the girl.

She was lithe and athletic in build, made for running. Her hair was a brilliant blood red that shined in the bright lights of the park she was in. And when he saw her eyes, Hades began to pray, though he didn't know who to.

He knew those eyes. They were distinct, unique, and only one person should have had them on her face. Hestia.

He paled even more at the thought of what of what she would do to him. Hestia was a wonderful person. She was kind, caring, understanding, and the best sister a brother could as for. However, she was more vindictive than a harpy. She had, with Hades permission of course, designed areas in the Fields of Punishment for people who murdered their families, or rapped their own children/ stepchildren. Hades admired her for that, and secretly wished she had been his mother. There would have been no way in Tartarus that she would have allowed Kronos to eat her children, not even a nibble. Truly, she would be a more fitting Titianess of mothers than Rhea ever was.

The child waved at the screen, smiling widely, "Hi mom!" and the TV set went blank.

Oh, he was going to be in such deep crap when this was over.

**/Denver, Colorado, Kenna's POV/**

The cupids turn back to their original positions and their heads snapped closed. The lights shut off, leaving the park in darkness once more, save for the glowing metal inside the pool. I idly wondered what my ratings were.

Then my thoughts turned to Ares. He knew it all along, and had me do a possibly deadly mini-quest (those spiders were _not_ gentle with me; they were designed for gods after all).

But I had to be good to him. If I gave him too much attitude, he would make our ride west very uncomfortable. But maybe I could do something to make him easier to work with.

"Come on," I told Annabeth and Grover, "we need to have a little…talk, with Ares."

**/Line Break/**

The war god was waiting for us in the dinner parking lot.

"Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."

I gave him a grin, which left him bewildered. "I know. That was a fun little ride you set me on."

I was projecting calm feelings on to Ares, to soften him up. A slightly clouded look passed over his eyes, before he looked normal, but he sounded off when he spoke.

"Yeah, your welcome kid." And there was no sarcasm in his voice; he spoke it like he meant our quest to be a fun trip.

"Here's you shield, Lord Ares." I passed it to him.

He tossed it in the air like I had seen some of the pizza makers do to dough. The shield morphed into a Kevlar vest. He slung it across his back.

"See that truck over there?" he said, voice sounding closer to normal, and pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street. "That's your ride. It'll take you strait to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."

The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, written in the easiest font for a dyslexic kid; large white letters on a black background.

**KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT**

**WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS**

I pushed more calmness on Ares. "Surely, the god of war can do more than that."

Ares seemed almost to agree, but shook his head just before he spoke. He snapped his fingers and a set of keys appeared in his hands. He tossed it to Grover, who was the only one with a driver's license. "You're lucky I'm feeling so generous, otherwise you'd have to ride in back. And here's a little something for the entertainment. "

He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and gave it to me.

Inside there was enough snacks for a day or two on the road, twenty bucks in cash, and a pouch full of drachmas.

I reluctantly put on the pack, as I could see the calmness fading from him. I looked back at the diner, which only had a couple customers now. The waitress who'd served us dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares would hurt us. She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him, and he nodded, holding up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of us.

I knew that we'd have our faces plastered over the news all over again.

Great

Ares slung a leg over his bike and kick-started it. "See you around kid."

He reeved his engine, and then roared down Delancy Street, kicking up a trail of dust.

We quickly got in the truck and quietly started down the road, hoping we'd be long gone before the truckers realized they were missing something.

**/Line Break/**

**Hi there,**

**School starts back up to day, so from now on the updates will probably be slower, at least until I can get a study hall that will let me use my computer.**

**Right, so, there has been discussion on the 'Gods read_' and I am willing to compromise. So long as the story isn't too cliché I'll let the writer decide when the gods read the books.**

**You can start sending me your first chapters as soon as you finish them, I just won't announce who gets to write it until this story is over.**

**/Line Break/**

**A word about Aphrodite and Greek myth,**

**There are lots of holes and contradicting myths about the gods and goddesses, such as who fathered Aphrodite. There are some who say she is came to be from sea foam that was impregnated with the genitalia of Uranus, and one that said she is a daughter of Zeus.**

**Etymologically speaking, Aphrodite appears to be connected to the sea foam, as the Greek word for foam is aphros.**

**The point is, good ole rick picked and chose which versions of myth he wanted to use, because there is no singular agreed upon Mythos covering Greek gods, not to mention the roman reinterpretation of Greek myths which also throws a wrench in the whole thing.**

**/Line Break/**

**Have a Nice day!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**All content within this story is based on the works of Rick Riordan. There are sections in this story that are taken almost verbatim from his work. I own none of this; he has the copyright to Percy and the gang. I make no money from this, nor do I seek credit for other peoples work, I merely play around with it for my (and for my dear readers) enjoyment.**

_Last time on FotW:_

_I reluctantly put on the pack, as I could see the calmness fading from him. I looked back at the diner, which only had a couple customers now. The waitress who'd served us dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares would hurt us. She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him, and he nodded, holding up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of us._

_I knew that we'd have our faces plastered over the news all over again._

_Great_

_Ares slung a leg over his bike and kick-started it. "See you around kid."_

_He reeved his engine, and then roared down Delancy Street, kicking up a trail of dust._

_We quickly got in the truck and quietly started down the road, hoping we'd be long gone before the truckers realized they were missing something._

**/Line Break/**

It was a few hours before we had to get gas, and we pulled out to this little trucking/gas station to fill up. At that point my curiosity had gotten the best of me and I opened the door to the back.

I recoiled in shock when I could see inside.

The truck, like the name said, was a transport for zoo animals. There was a lion (surprisingly an albino one), a zebra, and an antelope like thing I didn't remember the name for. Unlike the name indicated, it was anything but humane or kind. It was downright despicable. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a Styrofoam tray of ground beef, while the lion was given a bowl of half spoiled turnips.

The lion looked like it was half dead; with flies going around its pink eyes, and his ribs showed through his fur quiet clearly. Neither of the drivers appeared willing to get close to the poor guy, so his blankets were soiled and littered with crap. He paced around in the cage that was clearly too small for him.

The zebra looked slightly better, but his fur was matted and spotted with chewing gum from somebody spitting on him (or maybe it was a her; it was hard to tell from its laying position).

The antelope looked better, but it had a slight limp in its front right leg and there was a balloon tied to one of its antlers (or was it a horn?). It read OVER THE HILL!

Grover came to check on me and stopped as soon as he saw the animals. All of a sudden, rage burst out of Grover like a volcano.

"This is Kindness?! Humane zoo transport?!" he yelled. He looked like he would drive all the way back to the diner to beat the living daylights out of the drivers. Or maybe he'd just run there, it'd save on gas.

With Grover's and Annabeth's (She came as soon as there was yelling, prepared to fight monsters) help we got them fed and watered.

Grover calmed the antelope down, while she cut off the balloon. I worked at pulling the gum out of the zebra's fur as best I could, which wasn't much unfortunately. We switched the food, to give them at least something to eat, before I cut the locks off the cages.

When I did so, I felt a very faint feeling of gratitude from the zebra. I gave it a quizzical look, but got nothing else out of the animal.

Grover held his hands up and said something in a mix of goat, zebra, gazelle (I finally guessed it!), and lion talk, like a blessing.

The animals took off, thankfully with nobody to really pay attention to them.

"Will they be okay?"

"Don't worry," he said. "I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning they'll reach the wild safely," he said. "They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they'll need until they can find a safe place to live."

"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" I asked

"It only works on animals."

"So it would only work on Jessie" Annabeth reasoned

We shared a laugh Jessie's expense. I don't think she'd mind.

"Okay, guys. We should get going now, the less time we spend delaying, the less time it will take before we're home."

**/Line Break/**

Once again we were on the road.

Well, sort of.

We had driven further from the gas station, and were now quite firmly outside of Colorado, but we were still a ways out from Vegas when Grover said he was too tired to drive any further. And since he was the only one who could drive, we were parked off on the side of the road.

As soon as we were parked and the engine was off, it took mere moments 'til Grover was sawing logs like no tomorrow.

Annabeth and I, restless demigoddesses that we were, stayed up a bit longer.

"Hey," Annabeth said after a while. "I'm sorry about the waterpark, Kenna."

"That's ok; every one's got to be afraid of something, right?"

"It's just…" she shuddered. "Spiders."

"Because of the Arachne story," I guessed. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest."

Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. So I'm sorry for not hanging in there for you."

She pulled apart an Oreo and gave me half. "In the iris message…did Luke really say nothing?"

"Pretty much, though he did hint he's known you two for some time. At least since Grover…" and I stopped midsentence

Annabeth's eyes widened. "How do you know about that?"

I looked down at the floor. "I just know a little bit, from what Grover summarized and what I could piece together. You and Luke were with Thalia when Grover went to bring you to camp, yeah?"

She nodded, putting down her uneaten Oreo. "A seven year-old Half-Blood doesn't last alone for long, Kenna. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve, and Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were…amazing monster-fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters before Grover found us."

Then Grover, who had been secretly listening in spoke up. "I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp." He said quietly, his voice was soft, but mostly steady. "Just, Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves, and Thalia would never have let me anyways. I thought I could get them all to camp safely. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I panicked, and I made some wrong turns. I should have… if I was just a little quicker"

"Stop right there Grover. You're not going to blame yourself for that any more, got that?"

Annabeth nodded. "No one blames you, and neither did Thalia."

He took a shuddering breath, and I sent a wave of calmness his way to relax him. He took another, smoother breath, and fell asleep.

Oops, a little too calm.

"So… you ran away from home?"

Annabeth nodded slowly. "My dad… well, let's just say he didn't factor me into his life too well. He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."

"But…my mom…" I said confused

Annabeth looked at me with shock. "You don't mean Hestia raised you herself, did she?"

"Umm…well, err, yeah. I mean, she's the patron goddess of the family right? I guess she was allowed to raise me."

"Kenna… do you realize how lucky you are? Most demigods would be happy to just get a phone call from their Olympian parent."

"Yeah, I do know." I said sadly. "Well, I did after I came to camp. Before then mom and I were just a normal family, you know? Well, except for the getting kicked out of schools regularly part, but other than that? It was just, normal." I said quietly.

She looked at me with something close to envy, though there was also some understanding.

"My dad, he… talked about me like I was the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five, he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal life, had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist." She paused for a breath.

"When I first met my mom, in person, it was one of the happiest days of my life. We talked. Just, talked. It was really nice." She looked at me again. "You don't know how lucky you are Kenna. I got to know my mom for a day; you got to know yours your whole life. Just be thankful you weren't attacked sooner than you were."

And truth be told, I was thankful. I don't know how I would have turned out if Hestia hadn't raised me. Mom said I didn't have a father, so what would have happened to me?

We were silent a long while, just listening to the sound of Grover's snores. I watched as Annabeth played with the ring on her necklace, her face showing deep thought.

"That ring, the one on your necklace, is… is that your dad's?"

"Yeah, it is." She answered in a clipped tone, making me wince.

"I'm sorry." I back tracked. "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."

"No, no...It's okay." She said. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her…That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me; he wanted me to come home with him."

"Really?"

"Yeah, problem was… I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked, we argued, monsters attack, and we argued some more. I didn't need to be told again. She didn't want me around. I hadn't even made it through winter break when I called up Chiron and came right back to camp half-blood."

"You ever think of trying again? Third time's the charm, and all that jazz."

"Please," she drawled. "I'm not into self-inflicted pain."

"You should at least write them a letter. I mean, if you just give up there is no way to make it better. Just give it one more try. I promise you won't regret it." I don't know where my confidence came from, but it seemed like the right thing to say whatever the case.

It wasn't long before Annabeth fell asleep. I had trouble following her lead, but I eventually closed my eyes

_**/Dream world/**_

My nightmare started as one I got quite often during the school year: I was being forced to take a standardized test while wearing a straitjacket. All the other kids were going out to recess, and the teacher (who looked suspiciously like Mrs. Dodds) kept saying_ 'come on Kenna, you're not stupid are you? Pick up your pencil.'_

After that the dream was different.

I looked over at the next desk and saw girl sitting there, also wearing a strait jacket. She was my age, with unruly black, punk style hair, dark eye liner around her stormy blue eyes, and a smattering of light freckles across her nose. Somehow, I knew exactly who she was. She was Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

She struggled against the straitjacket, glared at me in frustration, then snapped, _'Well, coal-for-brains? One of us has to get out of here.'_

'_She's right'_ I thought. 'I'm going to get out of here right now.'

The strait jacket melted off of me, but when I went to go to the door I fell through the floor. The teachers' voice was replaced by the cold and cruel tones of the pit-man.

"_Kenna Pyrrhus,"_ it said._ "Yes, the exchange went well I see."_

My surroundings were now the rocky walls of the cavern that sat on the edge of Tartarus.

From the deeps of the pit that monster was speaking, but not to me.

"_And she suspects nothing?" _HE asked_**.**_

Another voice, one that I almost recognized, like when there's a word on the tip of your tongue but you just can't remember it. _"Nothing, my lord," _the voice said. _"she is as ignorant as the rest."_

I looked for the source of the new voice but whoever he was, because it was definitely a guy, he was invisible to me.

"_Deception upon deception, excellent"_ mused the thing.

"_Truly, my Lord," _said the voice next to me. _"You are well-named the Crooked one. But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly-"_

"_You?" it said with scorn. "You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened."_

"_But, my lord-"_

"_Peace, little servant. Our six months have brought us much. Zeus's anger has grown, Poseidon stands at the tipping point, and Hestia has played her last card. We need only push a little more, and they will crumble. Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items are delivered into my hands, we will…But wait. She is here."_

"_What?" _the invisible man said, suddenly tense._ "You summoned her, my lord?"_

"_No." _the monsters attention was now focused on me._ "Blast her mother's nature- too wild and uncontainable. The girl brought herself forth."_

"_Impossible!" _the servant cried

"_For a weakling such as you, perhaps,"___the voice snarled at him. Then its' cold power turned on me, and I shivered. _"So, young heroine… you desire to dream of your quest? I will deliver what you wish."_

Then the scene changed again.

I was standing in a vast throne room with black marble walls and bronze floors. The horrid looking throne sat empty, and was made of fused bones.

I tried to move, but my legs wouldn't comply. I looked down and discovered my body was withering down to the bones. Grinning skeletons in Greek armor crowded around me, draping me with purple silk robes and crowning me with laurels that smoked with a sickening smell, burning into my scalp.

The evil voice began to laugh, devoid of any warmth of any sort, just filled with malice and glee at another's suffering.

"_Hail, the conquering hero!"_

**/Line Break/**

**Hi!**

**I am so-o sorry for the super late update! I can't work on it in school ( I don't have a study hall this quarter), I have shit-tones of school work, and I'm retaking a class I failed last year, so I'd rather not fail again, thank you very much.**

**So yeah, I get pretty darn busy.**

**Anywho, I still hate myself for not updating as much so I decided to at least give you this.**

**Have a nice day!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**All content within this story is based on the works of Rick Riordan. There are sections in this story that are taken almost verbatim from his work. I own none of this; he has the copyright to Percy and the gang. I make no money from this, nor do I seek credit for other peoples work, I merely play around with it for my (and for my dear readers) enjoyment.**

_Last time on FotW:_

_I tried to move, but my legs wouldn't comply. I looked down and discovered my body was withering down to the bones. Grinning skeletons in Greek armor crowded around me, draping me with purple silk robes and crowning me with laurels that smoked with a sickening smell, burning into my scalp._

_The evil voice began to laugh, devoid of any warmth of any sort, just filled with malice and glee at another's suffering._

"_Hail, the conquering hero!"_

/**Line Break**/

I woke with a start.

It was fairly early in the morning, making it June 15th, just six days until the solstice. The cause of my sudden awakening was us hitting a bump in the road. We were back on the road and that Grover had hit a bump in the road.

I looked around the cabin of the truck and saw that Annabeth was still sleeping, and that Grover was completely focused on the road ahead.

I watched as the landscape flew by (a pretty uninteresting desert from what I could see. I imagined seeing wily coyote getting blown up; it helped lessen the boredom of waiting). A couple of more hours and we were driving into Las Vegas and I was blatantly staring at everything (I'm pretty sure mom would NEVER allow me to go here normally).

It was nice to see some form of civilization after miles of rocks and sand. The tall buildings and bright lights were a reminder of home.

Home

I hadn't thought about it since we left New Jersey, and the fake statue of liberty just added to my sudden bout of homesickness. I realized I hadn't spoken to my mom since I left camp.

How was she holding up? Did she know what was going on? Did she know I was okay?

I shook my head of the thoughts. She most likely had seen me back in the waterpark, so she knew I was okay. And besides, she was a fully mature goddess (much more so than a certain immortal, Diet Coke drinking summer camp director I knew) she knew how to handle herself.

_But she'll still worry about you,_ I thought to myself.

We drove through town as quick as we could with traffic, but had to stop, again, for gas. That darn truck was one Hades (sorry uncle) of a gas guzzler!

This time though we ditched the truck at the station. There were police cars going by at least every hour, and the longer we were in that truck, the more likely we were to get caught.

We walked at fast pace through town, going past casinos and classy hotels. The hustle and bustle of the crowds was bugging out Annabeth a little, while I was just fine dealing with the sidewalk traffic. She hadn't been outside of camp in two years, and the amount of people bumping into each other and jostling for a position to move forward were not a common sight at camp, which was smaller and more organized than this place.

It was hot outside, at least one hundred degrees (Fahrenheit), and we looked like deep-fried tourists, but that just made us blend in better.

We passed all sorts of places, even past the Statue of Liberty replica (which, quite frankly, was quite noticeably smaller) but we didn't have a clue what we were looking for; maybe another car or a cab? But we didn't stop to hail one, or even just to take a moment to plan our next move.

We took a random turn, and we stood staring at a dead-end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

The entrance was surrounded by a huge neon flower, blinking a bright yellow color. No one was going in or out, but the glittering doors were wide open- spilling out cold air and the smell of what I assumed was lotus flowers.

The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired, do you want to come in and sit down?"

That set off warning bells in my head. The legal age to enter a casino was twenty one or something like that.

So one, either this was a monster den, and the man was luring us in

Or the guy didn't care about breaking the law and possibly losing his job. It's hard to not be paranoid when there are, quite literally, monsters out to get you.

But Firestorm wasn't warming up at all, and I didn't get any bad feelings off the dude.

I had been practicing feeling other people's emotions on the way to Vegas, practicing on Grover and Annabeth, and could get a general idea of when they were calm, annoyed, distracted, or angry. The dude only gave of extreme calmness, which while strange, wasn't dangerous.

The inside was amazing. The whole lobby was a gigantic arcade, and I'm not talking about some cheesy space invaders and pack-man machine. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on one side of the building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each with their own widescreen TV.

In other words, if there was anything missing from it, it wasn't worth playing.

But best of all, there were no lines.

"Hey!" a bellhop said, he looked the part at least. He wore a white and yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."

"Umm…but…" I stammered.

"No, no," he said laughing. "The bill's been taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work for the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

There was just so much wrong with that conversation my brain went numb.

A free room? Skeet targets? Free cash-cards? What the heck was going on here?!

"Enjoy your stay!"

Somehow we went from the lobby to checking out our room. It was a suite with three separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, chips, and all sorts of things ADHD kids shouldn't get a lot of. The towels were fluffy and we had water beds with feather pillows. A big screen TV with satellite and high speed internet and on the balcony there was a hot tub and a skeet-shooting machine and a shot gun; all with a view over the Las Vegas skyline. The view over the strip and the desert was amazing, though with all the gadgets inside I doubt we'd see anything outdoors.

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is…"

"Sweet," Grover supplied. "totally, and absolutely sweet."

I checked the closet in the room I picked and all the cloths fit me. Perfectly.

"I don't like it."

"What! What isn't there to like!" exclaimed Grover dramatically. "everything is perfect!"

"Too perfect." I reasoned. "think about it; we walk into this place at random, and there is everything we could want or need here. And who paid for all this anyways? All this stuff is extremely expensive! They don't give away free big screen TV's for a reason." I turned to Annabeth. "Please, don't you think something's wrong with this picture? And how many times have we walked into a place thinking it's, "safe", and then have to fight our way out?"

She nodded, reluctantly. "I think we should at least look around a little bit, you know, and see if you're right. Any hint of monsters and we'll high-tail it out of here, okay?"

I agreed with her, mostly because I wanted one decent nights rest. After a well-deserved shower and a change into some nice, clean cloths, we headed downstairs to investigate. I prayed that I was wrong and that this was all just an extremely happy coincidence and there were no monsters.

**/Mount Olympus/**

The goddess of wisdom, Athena, sat watching the Gazing Pool, which lay in a side chamber of the council building. The pool was a gift of Poseidon's to all of the gods so that they may observe the mortal world.

It had surprised her that he had the necessary skills to create it, but Atlantis was renowned for its knowledge, or more specifically its libraries. She herself had studied there when she was a young goddess.

It was simpler then. She was but new born to everyone around her, she had no grudges against anyone yet, and she was a wild card in the political arena that was the Olympian Council. She knew it then, that she had to prove herself to everyone, including her father. He waited to see how she would turn out; would she be a strong headed warrior like Enyo? Or would she be a more taciturn and peaceful daughter like Persephone?

Triton had offered to educate her, knowing how difficult it was to be thrust into the workings of politics at a young age, an offer she gladly accepted. She learned much during her short time there, and it was there that she learned to love strategy. The Atlanteans had become a war-prone civilization towards the end, and had created many battle tactics for many situations, and she had gobbled up the knowledge like a toddler eats a cookie. All the different possibilities and variables that could be thrown your way was so enrapturing to her young mind.

_But that was the past _she reminded herself.

Currently, she was observing and fretting over her daughter, just as she was sure Hestia was doing. Unfortunately, her daughter's track record wasn't as good as the fiery redhead's.

She had dragged her quest members, twice, to a lurking monster (although it was hard to blame her for the arch incident, seeing as Zeus sent Echidna after them and would have found them either way). And the fire child would always fix the problem.

That girl was an issue though. Apparently, being raised by your Olympian parent had good side effects like making better judgment. That was unfair! She wanted to raise her children, all of them did, or at least they did now. Zeus disagreed; he thought it let the heroes build their own character and Hera had agreed with him, mostly because she slipped in a sub clause that would make it much more difficult for him to have mortal children (though it wouldn't stop him completely). The other main person against knowing demigods was Dionysus. That was no surprise, seeing as he had dealt with demigods for more than fifty years and wanted to be away from them as much as possible. Even from his own children, for whom he cared for a great deal. He needed a break from them.

Ever since, the gods had seen and talked with their children less and less. And the matching trend was that an average demigod's life span had shortened without the wise words and advice of their sires, they hardly even made it to forty!

She wished she could talk with Hestia; she was the only one who understood what she was going through now.

Of course, the only people allowed to see her now was Zeus and Poseidon, and Zeus stayed as far away as possible. She could ask her uncle to pass along a message to the hearth goddess, but she was not willing to stoop so low as to talk with the sea scum.

Then again…the girl made her think about her own actions.

By her vary nature, she tended to be selfish. It was hard not to when one was supposedly the wisest god on the council. She took many things as insults to her much more personally than reasonable. Medusa's head came to mind; she had punished the girl and her sisters for defiling her sacred temple, and cursed Poseidon's non-immortal offspring to have more difficulties at academic skillsets. But really, did she have to make three monsters to prey on mortals and demigods to have her revenge? Simply making the damn girl a frog or a hare should have been a sufficient punishment. And cursing _all_ of Poseidon's children? Maybe for a century or two, but she had done it all the way up two his last mortal child.

Maybe it was time to let go of old grudges. On the plus side, she might be allowed access to the libraries of Atlantis once more and there was _a lot_ of old knowledge hidden there.

Maybe forgiving, and apologizing, to Poseidon wouldn't be so bad after all.

**/Line Break/**

**Hi!**

**Wow, I'm surprised I was able to get this much done, especially with my work load being what it is.**

**So, how was this? I'm going off the beaten track a more and more as I go along, hopefully it's still good.**

**I know I was thinking of skipping the lotus hotel completely for a while, but other ideas cropped up and I decided against it. **

**I know some of you may have noticed that I posted a Skyrim fic and then took it off a few days later, so let me explain. I wrote that to get things out of my head so I could focus back on this, then I decided that it wasn't up to the quality I wanted it to be at so I took it off. I do hope to write a Skyrim fic eventually, as those were the first types of stores I read on this site, but I just can't seem to get them down on paper (virtual or otherwise) the way I want them, and I've tried like…eight times already.**

**Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the story so far**

**Have a nice day!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**All content within this story is based on the works of Rick Riordan. There are sections in this story that are taken almost verbatim from his work. I own none of this; he has the copyright to Percy and the gang. I make no money from this, nor do I seek credit for other peoples work, I merely play around with it for my (and for my dear readers) enjoyment.**

_Last time on FotW:_

_I turned to Annabeth. "Please, don't you think something's wrong with this picture? And how many times have we walked into a place thinking it's, "safe", and then have to fight our way out?"_

_She nodded, reluctantly. "I think we should at least look around a little bit, you know, and see if you're right. Any hint of monsters and we'll high-tail it out of here, okay?"_

_I agreed with her, mostly because I wanted one decent nights rest. After a well-deserved shower and a change into some nice, clean cloths, we headed downstairs to investigate. I prayed that I was wrong and that this was all just an extremely happy coincidence and there were no monsters._

**/Line Break/**

Arriving back down stairs we split up to search for anything suspicious. I searched around the rock wall and bungee jump area first, there were a few small lines of people but there were no signs of monsters. Then I looked around the artificial ski slope, twice, to make sure I covered the whole area. I went around the waterslide and virtual-reality laser tag, and the FBI sharpshooter section. Nothing; there wasn't a single monster (or god for that matter) among them. It was just a bunch of regular mortals having fun.

After a while, the temptation to check out all the games won out, and soon I was game hopping from one to the next. Apparently Grover and Annabeth had also decided it was safe enough to get distracted. I passed Grover who was playing that game where the deer goes redneck hunting, and Annabeth was playing trivia games and building virtual buildings in a 3-D sim game. And as time consuming as it looked, it actually seemed kind of fun.

After a while, I got curious about the other people. Some of them were dressed in old fashioned cloths, not like renaissance fair kind of old, but it looked like some kids were trying to bring back the '70's, bad hair-do and all.

I bumped into a little kid, who looked about nine or ten. He was dressed a little on the formal side, with black pants, long sleeve navy blue shirt, and shiny leather shoes, but he looked like an ok kid.

"Hey! Can you help me?" he asked suddenly

I crouched down to eye level so I wasn't speaking down to him. "Sure, what do you need?"

"I can't find my sister; can you help me find her?"

The face he made and the desperate sound in his voice touched my heart. I had always wanted a brother or sister, I asked Santa for one several times when I was little.

"Sure I'll help you, what does she look like? And where did you see her last?"

"Umm, I don't remember where we were, but she's tall! Like about your height, and she has a dark hair like mine, oh! And she has this funny looking green hat she bought at the gift shop earlier in the month!" I had to admit, the kid sounded like he was on a sugar high, but his voice was also tinged with worry.

We spent what felt like half an hour looking for his sister before we found her spinning around in the lobby, looking a little lost. She looked more around my age, and had dark, silky hair spilling out from under a green beanie hat-thing.

"Bianca!" the kid cried out, before rushing to engulf his big sister in a bear hug.

It was an adorable sight to say the least.

The boy's sister, Bianca he called her, looked back at me and sent me a grateful smile. "Thank you, I was afraid I lost him. I could never forgive myself if I did. What's your name?"

"It's Kenna, and it was nothing."

"Well either way, thank you. I owe you one."

I left her to find another fun game, her reprimanding voice following after me.

After a while I was playing with one of those 70's dudes named 'Darren'. As we finished around of a virtual hunting game (I'm sure Grover would kill me if he found out) he said, "Groovy, man; been here for two weeks, and the games just get better and better."

Groovy? Really? And it didn't even sound like he was purposefully using it, it just spouted out of his mouth casually.

Later, while we were talking, I said something was 'sick' and he looked at me startled, like he never heard the word used like that.

The more I talked to him, the less interested in talking he became and went back to the screen.

"Hey, Darren?"

"What?"

"What year is it?"

He Frowned at me. "In the game?"

"No, in real life"

He had to think about it, but when he answered me, he was completely serious. "1977"

That creped me out, and I knew then that we needed to get out. As I quickly walked away I noticed something else, everyone here was obsessed with whatever they were doing: video games, rock climbing, TV, food, or whatever, they all were tuned out of everything around them. I talked to a few more people, and I got similar creepy answers. One said it was 1985, and another said 1993. And they all said they weren't here for all that long, a week or few days. I thought back to the kid and Bianca, they had been here at least a month so how long were they here?

We had to get out of here, it was a veritable roach motel; you check in, but you don't check out.

I found Annabeth, still absorbed in her virtual buildings.

"Come on," I told her. "We've got to get out of here."

No response

I shook her shoulder. "Annabeth"

She looked up, annoyed. "What?"

"Time to go."

"What? Why?" she said turning back to the screen. "I've just started on setting up the arches-"

"It's a trap! We need to get out. NOW."

She didn't respond 'til I shook her shoulder again. "What?"

"We need to leave. Remember? The quest, the underworld!"

"Oh, come on Kenna, just a few more minutes."

"Annabeth, there are kids her from the 70's, kids who never aged. You check in, and you stay forever!"

"So?" she asked. "can you imagine a better place?"

I grabbed her arm and yanked her away from the game.

"Hey!" she screamed and hit me, but nobody noticed us; they were all preoccupied.

I decided to shock her out of the apparent trance the place had on her. I gave her minor first degree burn on the arm, which basically means she got sun burnt.

She yelped, before coming back to reality. "Oh my gods," she said. "How long have we-"

"I don't know, but it won't be much longer. But we need to find Grover first."

We went searching, and found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter.

"Grover!" we both shouted

He ignored us, and yelled at the screen. "Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!"

"Grover!"

He jumped, and started clicking at us as if we were just another image on the screen.

I gave Annabeth a look, and together we took Grover by the arms and dragged him away. His flying shoes kicked in, trying to drag him back to his beloved game, as he shouted, "No! I just got to a new level! No!"

A lotus bellhop hurried over to us. "Well now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"

I didn't even bother looking at him, although Grover shifted in our hands to reach for the silvery cards. Annabeth held his reaching hand in check, saying "No thanks"

As we got closer and closer to the door, the smell of food got more enticing, and the music that had been pleasantly soft in the background, sounded even better. I thought back to our room upstairs. We could stay one night, and sleep in real, comfortable, cushiony bed for once…

Then we burst out the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran out to the sidewalk. It was the afternoon, the same time we had gone in, and people still drove regular cars (that would have been awkward, coming out to see everything look all future-y, how'd you explain that?) but something seemed off. The weather was completely different; it was stormy, with heat lighting flashing out in the desert.

Ares backpack was slung over my shoulder, which was odd because I could have sworn I ditched it in the hotel room. But I had other things to worry about.

I ran to a newspaper stand and read the date; June 20th, 2005.

We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days, leaving us only one day to prevent WWIII.

'_Well that's just marvelous'_ I thought to myself.

**/Mount Olympus/**

Things were tense, to say the least.

The arguments between Zeus and Poseidon and grown in both size and fury, which was reflected in their domains.

There were several plane crashes over the ocean, now also happening in the Pacific, and there was minor flooding in the Midwest. Luckily so far the planes that had crashed were not public air liners, and the flood damage, while expensive, was not very wide spread.

There were also a few wild fires in the mountains, caused by lightning strikes.

The mood was also reflected in the citizens of the floating city. The hundreds of nymphs and godlings, while acting like there wasn't anything wrong, were sharing rumors. Harsh whispers of deals being struck for escape plans and protection were being made. This was especially worrying since they were practically immortal.

The only good news going around was that Poseidon and Athena had made amends, shifting the political stance of the council to almost thoroughly behind the sea god (with the exception of Hera-who supported her husband-and Hephaestus, Hermes, Artemis, and Demeter-who all abstained from deciding). That meant that Ares, Athena, Apollo, and Aphrodite were giving Poseidon a victory of 5-2. Anything Zeus did against his brother was going to put him in a very bad light for the council.

Despite the fact that Zeus was 'king' of the gods, he did not wield absolute control, a very common misconception among mortals and demigods. He hadn't had that much power since he was forced to concede some of his executive powers to the council, making Olympus a constitutional monarchy of sorts.

However, he still commanded the armies of Olympus, and could attack without approval (though he usually asked for Athena's input).

Zeus was in a corner, and as everyone knows; a cornered animal is the most dangerous kind.

**/Line Break/**

**Hi!**

**Wow, another chapter in two days. Just be aware that this won't happen often; I have an English class I have to make up and that will take away from my story writing.**

**So how'd you like it? I thought of changing the hotel to have lotus fruits that keep you sedated (like the original myth and the movie did-sort of) but I decided this was better. **

**Kenna met the Di'Angelo's! I thought that was a nice touch and it will make book three more interesting.**

**I'm trying to sound out how the Olympian council works, because if Zeus was an absolute monarch, like a lot of fan-fictions make him out to be, then there is no point to have a council at all; it would be a royal court, not a political body that a name like council implies. If Zeus was an absolute monarch, he wouldn't bother with a political process at all and just go and do things exactly as he pleases with no repercussions whatsoever.**

**Plus, if the Olympian gods represent the west then it also has to represent democracy in some form or another. It is the greatest gift that the Greeks (and the Romans, because they were a republic-at least for a time) have passed down to us, even if it's in a different form.**

**I don't think I say it enough: I love you guys! Your support, whether it's through following, reviewing, PM'ing, or even just reading, is very appreciated.**

**Have a nice day!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

**All content within this story is based on the works of Rick Riordan. There are sections in this story that are taken almost verbatim from his work. I own none of this; he has the copyright to Percy and the gang. I make no money from this, nor do I seek credit for other peoples work, I merely play around with it for my (and for my dear readers) enjoyment.**

_Last time on FotW:_

_Then we burst out the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran out to the sidewalk. It was the afternoon, the same time we had gone in, and people still drove regular cars (that would have been awkward, coming out to see everything look all future-y, how'd you explain that?) but something seemed off. The weather was completely different; it was stormy, with heat lighting flashing out in the desert._

_Ares backpack was slung over my shoulder, which was odd because I could have sworn I ditched it in the hotel room. But I had other things to worry about._

_I ran to a newspaper stand and read the date; June 20th, 2005._

_We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days, leaving us only one day to prevent WWIII._

'_Well that's just marvelous' I thought to myself._

**/Line Break/**

It was Annabeth's idea.

She loaded us into the back of a Vegas taxi as if we actually had money, and told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."

The cabbie chewed on his cigar as he sizes us up. We were clean, had relatively fresh cloths on, and didn't look too much like trouble makers; so he decided we'd be worth it, if we had enough cash.

"That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."

"Do you accept casino debit cards?"

He shrugged. "Some of 'em, same as credit cards. I got to swipe 'em though first."

Annabeth handed him her green LotusCash card.

He looked at it a little skeptically before sliding it through the machine.

His meter started rattling and the lights flashed, before it settled on an infinity symbol next to a dollar sign.

The cigar fell in to the driver's lap he looked back at us with wide eyes. "Where to in L.A….uh, Your Highness?"

"Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a bit straighter, obviously liking her knew title. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

That was probably a mistake.

The cab's speedometer stayed above ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.

On the road, we had lots of time to talk. I told Annabeth and Grover about the dream, excluding the part with Thalia in it. That seemed to be a more personal thing that I should keep to myself, and it would probably freak them out that I was dreaming about their friend-I really did _not_ want to deal with that.

I tried to tone down the scariness of the encounter, but it was no use. They both looked a little pale in the face.

"You figured it out already, didn't you? Back on the train." Asked Annabeth, though it was more of a statement.

I nodded, what I had witnessed in the latest dream (or was it some sort of astral-projection thing?) only confirmed my earlier guess. That thing in the pit was older than the gods, and had a bone to pick with them; the Titan king was the real threat, the only missing parts of the puzzle were where the bolt was and who stole it, not to mention the second item that was probably stolen as well.

Wasteland rolled by, and we passed a sign that read:

CLIFORNIA STATE LINE 12 MILES

There was a slight problem though. Even though we had figured out the basics of what was going on we still were no closer to finding the missing bolt or possibly missing helm, and we were speeding head long to L.A. and the underworld. I idly wondered how we were going to get back in time, but put the thought aside. We didn't have enough info to make a plan (not one that would work at least), and we could probably mail back the bolt with the Hermes packing slips I still had.

The cab sped west through Death Valley. Every gust of wind sounded like a spirit of the dead, and every time the breaks of an eighteen-wheeler hissed I was reminded of Echidna's reptilian voice.

By sunset we the taxi dropped us off at the beach in Santa Monica. It looked exactly like the beaches do in the movies and TV shows, only the smell through that thought in the dumpster.

There were carnival rides lining the Pier, palm trees lining the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in sand dunes, and surfer dudes waiting for the perfect wave (or at least the next decent one).

Grover, Annabeth, and I walked down to the edge of the surf.

"So…what now?" Annabeth asked.

The Pacific was turning gold in the setting sun, I thought about how long it had been since I'd been at Camp Half-Blood looking over a different sea, on the opposite side of the country.

The fact that a single person ruled over all that (minus the bunch of minor water deities and the titans that also controlled a portion) was mind boggling. Something on the order of 70% of the world was covered in water, all controlled by a singular being, and I was his niece. Of course that's ignoring the fact that the entire globe was covered in atmosphere, and the spirits of all the deceased which were equally vast, both of which was under my other two uncle's domain.

I stepped into the surf.

"Red, what are you doing?" asked Grover.

I kept walking, first up to my waist, and then my chest.

Annabeth called after me, "Do you know how polluted that water is? There're all kinds of toxic-"

And I was completely submerged. I had to consciously tell myself it was ok to keep breathing, the fact that I could breathe underwater temporarily forgotten by my subconscious.

I walked down into the shoals. I shouldn't have been able to see through the murky water, but somehow I could sense the rolling texture of the bottom, and I could faintly 'feel' the warm and cold currents swirling together.

A five foot mako shark approached me uncertainly, but I felt no hostile intentions directed from it. It came up alongside me and offered me its dorsal fin. I grabbed the fin with both hands, and it took off, pulling me along.

The shark carried me into the darkness before it deposited me at the edge of the ocean proper, where the sand bank dropped off into a huge chasm. The closest thing I could think of describing it as would be standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon at midnight. You couldn't see much, but knew that the void was right there.

The surface shimmered maybe a hundred and fifty feet above me. I knew I should have been crushed by the pressure, but then again, I shouldn't have been able to do a lot of things.

A soft glimmer rose from the darkness below, growing bigger and brighter as it reached me. A woman's voice called out: "Kenna Pyrrhus"

As she got closer, her shape became more defined. She had flowing, black hair, a dress made out of silk. Light flickered around her and it was then I noticed that she was riding on a stallion sized seahorse.

She dismounted, and the seahorse and shark whisked off and started playing something a lot like tag. The water-woman smiled at me. "You've come far, Kenna Pyrrhus. Well done."

I didn't know what to do, so I gave her a slight bow. "You're the one that spoke tom me in the Mississippi."

"Yes child. I am a Nereid, a spirit of the sea. It was not easy to appear so far up river, but my freshwater cousins, the naiads, helped sustain my presence. They honor Lord Poseidon though they do not serve his court."

"And… you serve in Poseidon's court?"

She nodded. "Indeed, it is not often that Poseidon gifts one with power over water. We have watched you with great interest."

It struck me then that this was why I had been mistaken as one of Poseidon's children, why I could control water. Somehow, perhaps without mom even noticing, the god of the seas had seen fit to bless me.

"Wh…why?"

"I do not know child, but know this; the king of the oceans only grants such a gift to those he deems worthy and strong of heart. And so he has seen fit to grant you another gift, and a warning."

She held out her hand, where three pearls flashed in her bioluminescent glow.

"He knows you journey to Hades' realm," she said. "Few mortals have ever done this and survived: Orpheus, who had musical skill to match even the muses; Heracles, who had great strength; Houdini, who could escape even the depths of Tartarus. Do you have any of those skills?"

"No, ma'am."

"Ah, but you have something else, Kenna. You have gifts you have only begun to know. The oracles have foretold a great and terrible future for you, should you live to adulthood. Poseidon would not let his niece die before her time. Therefore takes these, and when you are in need, smash a pearl at your feet."

"What will happen?"

"That depends on the need." She said. "But remember; what belongs to the sea will always return to the sea."

"And the warning?"

Her eyes flickered with green light. "I can only say go with what your heart tells you, for Hades feeds on the doubt and hopelessness of others. And beware, for when a mortal soul enters his realm, he does not give them up lightly." she said. "Good luck, Kenna Pyrrhus."

She summoned her seahorse and rode into the void, gone.

I looked up at the darkening surface. We were running out of time.

As I kicked my way to the surface, I thought back on the Nereid's words._You have gifts you have only begun to know._

That brought me to my water abilities. How could I forget? It's what had gotten me into this situation in the first place, being mistaken as one of Poseidon's kids. I had controlled the toilet water in camp to soak Jessie and her friend, and it had helped to heal me when I was attacked by the hellhound.

I focused on the feeling I got when I did those things, and directed the currents to help me to the surface.

When I reached the beach, my cloths dried instantly. I told Grover and Annabeth what happened, and gave each of them a pearl.

Annabeth grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."

"And what did that hat cost you, hmm?" I replied back.

She blushed, but pushed forward. "That's different, she's my parent. But Poseidon isn't yours, so he must expect something in return."

We left the conversation at that, because there were lots of possibilities of why with no way to check if they were true.

With some left over change, we took the bus into West Hollywood. I showed the driver the underworld address slip I'd taken from Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, but he'd never heard of the place.

"You remind me of somebody on TV," he told me. "You a child actor in something?"

"I'm a stunt double, for a lot of child actors." I lied

"Oh! That explains it."

We thanked him ad got off quickly.

We wandered around for a while, looking for any sign of DOA. Nobody new were it was, though how we expected a bunch of _living _mortals to know where the entrance to the land of the dead was I hadn't the foggiest.

I froze in front of TV appliance-store window because the television was showing a news update concerning someone I was very familiar with.

Smelly Gabe

It turns out that Gabe was caught bribing a local police officer, and further investigation showed that he had committed various other crimes, such as blackmail.

It was a relaxing, and satisfying, thought that the walking walrus wouldn't bother anyone again.

We continued on, searching for the studio.

**/Line Break/**

**Hi!**

**Jeez, I can crank out these Chapters, can't I? But really, don't get used to it; I do have school work to do. Lots of it.**

**Not much excitement in this chapter, but whatever. My favorite part is sending Gabe to prison. In this story, he doesn't have the opportunity to abuse anyone like he did in rick's work, making killing him via medusa head unneeded overkill.**

**I've been thinking, I need to start coming up with a name for the next 'book' in my series. I need your opinions; all of you, guest reader and account holder/author alike. Most of my reviews have been by the same handful of people, and I thank you, but I need full participation on this, because I kind of suck with making up names.**

**Next chapter, Procrustes and Charon. What will change? What will stay the same? Stay tuned to find out**

**Have a nice day!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

**All content within this story is based on the works of Rick Riordan. There are sections in this story that are taken almost verbatim from his work. I own none of this; he has the copyright to Percy and the gang. I make no money from this, nor do I seek credit for other peoples work, I merely play around with it for my (and for my dear readers) enjoyment.**

_Last time on FotW:_

_We wandered around for a while, looking for any sign of DOA. Nobody new were it was, though how we expected a bunch of living mortals to know where the entrance to the land of the dead was I hadn't the foggiest._

_I froze in front of TV appliance-store window because the television was showing a news update concerning someone I was very familiar with._

_Smelly Gabe_

_It turns out that Gabe was caught bribing a local police officer, and further investigation showed that he had committed various other crimes, such as blackmail._

_It was a relaxing, and satisfying, thought that the walking walrus wouldn't bother anyone again._

_We continued on, searching for the studio._

**/Line Break/**

It got dark, and shady-looking characters started coming on the streets to play. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a New Yorker, I don't scare easily. But L.A. had a totally different feel to it than New York. Back home, everything was relatively close. Things were more compact, but it didn't take much to go anywhere you needed without getting lost. The street pattern and subway made sense, and a kid could stay safe as long as they weren't stupid about it.

L.A. wasn't like that at all. Instead of being planned out and organized, it was just uncontrolled sprawl, chaotic. I didn't know how we were ever going to find the underworld in before tomorrow, the solstice.

We walked past gangbangers, bums, and street hawkers, who looked at us like they were trying to figure out if we were worth the trouble of mugging.

As we hurried past the entrance of an alley, a voice from the darkness said, "Hey, you."

I grabbed Grover's arm as he went to slow down and pulled him forward to keep moving. I wasn't about to let us get ruffed up because of a simple mistake. Whoever had called out to us decided to follow, as I could hear their echoing footsteps, and we ran. We made a sharp turn.

"There!" Annabeth shouted

Only one store on the whole block looked open, its' windows glaring in neon light. The sign above the door said something along the lines of CRSTUY'S WATRE BDE ALPACE.

"Crusty's Water Bed Palace?" Grover translated

It didn't exactly sound like a place I'd ever go except in an emergency, and this definitely applied as such.

We burst through the doors, ran behind a water bed, and ducked. After a moment or two of catching our breath, Grover said, "I think we lost them"

"Lost who?"

We all jumped.

Standing behind us was a guy who looked like a raptor in a leisure suit. He was at least seven feet tall, and was completely bald. He had grey, leathery skin, thick lidded eyes, and a cold, reptilian smile. He moved towards us slowly, but looked like he could move fast if he wanted to. I touched firestorm on my wrist, but it wasn't warm, so he thankfully wasn't a monster.

He wore a silk paisley shirt, u buttoned halfway down his hairless chest. The lapels on is velvet jacket were as wide as landing strips, and there were tons of silver chains around his neck.

"I'm Crusty," he said, with a tartar-yellow smile.

I had to say, the name fit him well.

"Sorry to barge in like that, someone started to follow us, and we, um…"

"You mean those no-good kids?" he grumbled. "They hang around every night. I get a lot of people in here, thanks to them. Say, would you want to look at a water bed?"

I was about to politely inform him that we did _not_ want to, when he put his heavy paw on my shoulder and steered me deeper into the show room.

There were tons of different water beds everywhere you'd look (What else would you expect from a water bed store?): different kinds of wood, different patterns of sheets, queen-size, king-size, emperor-of-the-universe-size.

"This is my most popular model," Crusty spread his hands proudly over a bed covered with black satin sheets, with built-in Lava Lamps on the head board. And the mattress vibrated. Million-hand massage," Crusty told us. "Go ahead, try it out. Shoot, take a nap, I don't care. No business today."

"Um," I said. "I don't know…"

"Million-hand massage!" Grover cried, and dove in. He sighed in happiness as he vibrated.

Crusty hummed and muttered silently to himself. Then he looked at me. "Do me a favor and try this one, please?"

He led me over to the Safari Deluxe model with a leopard-patterned comforter. When I just stood there looking down at the bed, he pushed me.

"Hey!" I cried

Crusty snapped his fingers, saying, "Ergo!"

Ropes sprung out of nowhere and lashed around my arms and legs. I struggled and pulled at the ropes, but they held me down close to the mattress.

Off to the side I heard Grover yell, apparently he was now stuck to a bed too.

**/3rd person POV/**

"Let them go!" Annabeth yelled at him.

"Of course I will, but I have to make them fit first. I just can't stand imperfect measurements." He snapped his fingers again, and the ropes drew tighter.

The ropes were starting to pull at both Kenna and Grover from opposite ends.

"Don't worry, these are stretching jobs. Maybe they'll gain three inches on their spines, and they might even live. Now, why don't we find a bed you like, hmm?"

Her eyes grew wide when she finally came up with an answer.

"You're Procrustes, the stretcher."

He was a man that forced everyone who came into his territory to sleep on an iron bed, and if they didn't fit…well, I'm sure you can guess what would happen. And it kept happening until Theseus killed him on his way to Athens.

"Yeah," the sales man said. "Put who can pronounce _Procrustes_? Bad for business I tell ya. But 'Crusty', that everyone can say."

Annabeth was making multiple plans to trick him when 'Crusty' froze, a look of pure agony etched on his face. He toppled over and Kenna stood in his place, firestorm in her hands.

"Well," she said. "I don't think I'll buy a water bed anytime soon, but at least think he got that kink out of my back."

**/Kenna's POV/**

I cut the ropes on Grover's bed, and got him to his feet, groaning all the while.

"You look taller" I commented jokingly, to break the tension.

"Not funny,"

We searched 'Crusty's store like we did at Medusa's. I looked behind Crusty's sales desk. There was an ad for Hermes Delivery Service and another for the All-New Compendium of L.A. Area Monsters (The only monstrous Yellow Pages you'll ever need!). Under that was a bright orange flier for DOA Recording Studios, offering commissions for hero's souls (We are all ways looking for new talent!). DOA's address was right underneath with a map.

"Come on," I told my friends

"Give me a minute," Grover complained. "I was almost stretched to death!"

"Then you're ready for the underworld, it's only a block from here."

**/Line Break/**

We stood in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking up at gold lettering etched in black marble.

DOA RECORDING STUDIOS

NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITTERING. NO LIVING.

It was about a quarter before midnight, but it was brightly lit and we glimpsed people moving around inside. We saw a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece sitting behind a security desk.

I turned to my friends and said, "Ready? Everyone got a pearl?"

They showed me each of theirs, and I checked my pocket for mine, it was still there.

I looked at them both, "Thanks for coming this so far with me guys, I couldn't have gotten here without you."

"For you Red? Anything." replied Grover

Annabeth nodded her agreement.

I turned back around and walked as calmly as I could into the lobby.

Muzak played softly hidden speakers, and the carpet and walls were steel grey. There were little pencil cacti growing in the corners, looking like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was taken. There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the windows, or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved, or talked or did much of anything.

The problem was, every time I looked directly at them, they looked very transparent. These were the spirits of the dead.

The security guard's desk was a raised podium, so we had to look up at him, making him look even more important.

He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-colored skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.

"Um, excuse me, Charon?"

He leaned across the desk. I couldn't see anything behind the glasses, but his smile was sweet and cold, like a snake's, right before it bites you.

"Yes?" he asked in a half curious, half bored manner. "What can I do for you to day little dead ones?"

"We need an appointment with Hades as soon as possible. It urgent."

"Well, that's a first." He said, his lips twitching slightly

"What is?" asked Annabeth

"Your request; how many people do you know would like to go see the lord of the dead? It's rather… humorous, I think." His accent sounded a little strange- like British or something, but also like English was his second language.

"Either way, a toll is a toll. You can't cross into the realm of the dead without payment. Normally, with adults, I could charge your credit card, or add the ferry price to your last cable bill. But with children…alas, you never die prepared. I suppose you'll have to wait a while, maybe you'll get lucky and get in by the end of the decade."

"Oh, but we aren't dead, and we have payment." I said, and flashed him my Lotus card.

He raised his eyebrow, then picked up his phone and made a call.

"Yea, it's me. Listen, I need to place a call with the boss… yes, I know he's busy, when isn't he? ... Well you don't have to get your nickers in a twist about it! …look, just place the damn call, and I'll deal with him…thank you" he sighed, muttering something to himself. "Hello, my lord. It's me, Charon…Yes, they're here." He looked me over. "No, she's not dead…Right away, sir." He hung up the phone.

He looked each of us in the eye, and then said, "You'll have to pay an extra living tax, but you can cross."

I handed him the card, "Keep the change."

We pushed through the crowd of waiting souls, who started grabbing at our clothes like the wind, their voices whispering words I couldn't make out. Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling, "Freeloaders"

He escorted us into the elevator, which was already crowded with the dead, each grasping a green boarding pass tightly. Charon grabbed to spirits who were trying to get on with us and pushed them back into the lobby.

"Right. Now, if any one gets any ideas while I'm gone, you're here another decade." he announced to the waiting room. "And if any one moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here another thousand years on top of that. Understand?"

He shut the doors. He put a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and we started to descend.

**/Line Break/**

**You guys are very lucky I love writing this story as much as I love reading, which is to say, I'm absolutely addicted. If I **_**didn't **_**like it as much as I do, then I wouldn't have posted this as soon.**

**So, you're probably wondering why Kenna couldn't tell if Procrustes was a monster. In actual myth, he was an evil son of Poseidon (didn't see that one coming, did you? I certainly didn't). I the way I figured it, is that he worked out a deal with Hades to send hero's souls to him in exchange for staying out of the fields of punishments, and he also sends Hades most of his profits. If you pay attention in the book, it never said he disintegrated, just that he "Stopped making deals" which only tells us he died, not how he died. I also figured that Annabeth should have a break from being strapped to the bed, so you're welcome Anna.**

**So far only one person has suggested names, good ones mind you, but I need to have more options. **_**Get to it people!**_

**Someone (you know who you are) asked why the shark was okay with Kenna, when I clearly stated in a previous chapter that they didn't like her. My answer is that because the shark was doing his lords bidding, he put away the dislike to do his job. And the reasoning behind the dislike was because they could sense her 'inner fire' and was uncomfortable with it. The Naiads just tipped the canoe because they were having fun.**

**Have a nice day!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 22**

**All content within this story is based on the works of Rick Riordan. There are sections in this story that are taken almost verbatim from his work. I own none of this; he has the copyright to Percy and the gang (or did he sell that? I'm not sure). I make no money from this, nor do I seek credit for other peoples work, I merely play around with it for my (and for my dear readers) enjoyment.**

_Last time on FotW:_

_He escorted us into the elevator, which was already crowded with the dead, each grasping a green boarding pass tightly. Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with us and pushed them back into the lobby._

"_Right. Now, if any one gets any ideas while I'm gone, you're here another decade." he announced to the waiting room. "And if any one moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here another thousand years on top of that. Understand?"_

_He shut the doors. He put a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and we started to descend._

**/Line Break/**

"What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?" asked Annabeth

"Nothing"

"For how long?"

"Forever, or until I'm feeling generous."

"Oh," she said. "That's…Fair."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Whoever said death was fair, young miss? Wait until it's your turn."

I got a sudden dizzy feeling, and we were no-longer going down, but forward. The air turned misty, and the spirits around me started changing shape. Their modern clothes faded away, replaced by grey hooded robes. The floor of the elevator began to swaying. I blinked hard, and when I opened my eyes, Charon's creamy Italian suit had been replaced by a long black robe. His sunglasses were gone, leaving dark, empty eye-sockets.

He saw me looking, and said, "Well?"

"Nothing" I managed.

The skin was completely gone from his form (at least from what I could see), leaving behind a ginning skull.

The floor kept swaying.

Grover said, "I think I'm going to be seasick."

When I looked again, the elevator wasn't an elevator anymore. We were standing on a wooden barge. Charon was poling us across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other, stranger things- Plastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

"The River Styx," Annabeth murmured. "It's so…"

"Polluted," Charon said. "For thousands of years, humans have been throwing away everything as you come across; hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management if you ask me."

Mist curled off the filthy water. Above us, almost lost in the gloom, was a ceiling of stalactites. Ahead, the far shore glimmered with a greenish light, the color of poison.

A slight feeling of dread came over me. I didn't belong here, I wasn't dead. I wasn't supposed to be here.

The shoreline of the underworld came into view. Craggy rocks and black volcanic sand stretched inland about a hundred yards to the base of a high stone wall, which marched on forever in each direction. A sound came from nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones-the howl of a large animal.

The bottom of our boat slid onto the black sand. The dead began to disembark. A woman held her daughter's hand, an old man and an old woman hobbled along arm in arm, and a boy no younger than I was, shuffling silently along in his grey robe.

"I'd wish you luck, lass, but there isn't much down here."

He checked the Lotus card for nicks and scratches, then took up his pole. He warbled something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he ferried an empty barge back across the river.

We followed the spirits up the well-worn path.

The gates were not what I was expecting, although what I expected I'm not entirely sure. But the entrance to the underworld looked kind of liked airport security.

There were three separate entrances under one huge black archway that said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBOS. Each entrance had a pass-through metal detector with security cameras mounted on top. Beyond that were tollbooths manned by back robed ghouls like Charon.

The dead queued up in the three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving right along, while the other two were going about as fast as a sleeping sloth.

Approaching us at a steady pace was a tall, dark robed figure. As he got closer I felt a strange, cold brush against my senses. It was an eerie feeling to have in the land of the dead, and it made me slightly nervous, but I also sensed a certain…peacefulness to the cold. And before we knew it, he stood before us.

The being was markedly different from the other people in the underworld we had seen. His skin was the color of teakwood, and his eyes were a golden color. Even hidden under dark robes you could tell he was fairly muscular, and he had a regal face with black hair that was pulled back to stay out of his face.

But the thing that stood out most was the wings.

They glimmered in the pale light of the underworld, rippling from shades of black and purple to dark blue.

_Beautiful_ was the best word I could come up with to describe him. You could say hot, or handsome, but it wouldn't do him any justice.

"Welcome to the land of the dead." When he spoke, his voice was as gorgeous as his figure- deep and melodious. "I am Thanatos."

Death; we were talking to death.

Somehow, I expected any near-death experiences I might have to be very different.

Now that I was closer to him I could feel his presence effect on me was more pronounced. Where before it was just calm and cold, now it felt like my soul was flickering, like a sputtering fire before it goes out. It was hard to describe it any further than that, the mere concepts that my senses were telling me about was beyond my understanding.

But just as I felt his pull on me, I felt a different one, pulling me away from falling off the edge of mortality.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Annabeth and Grover shivering, whether from cold or from fear I wasn't sure.

"Follow me, my master will speak with you." And he strode away.

It took us a few seconds to come back to our senses and then we ran to catch up.

As we followed him, we passed lines of the dead. The vast majority of them weren't anybody famous or notorious, just your average Joe or Jane, and none of them was someone I knew (thank the gods for that!).

We got closer to the gates. The howling was so loud now it shook the ground at my feet, but I still couldn't see where it was coming from.

Then, about fifty feet in front of us, the green mist shimmered. Standing just where the path split into three lanes was an enormous shadowy monster.

Cerberus

I hadn't seen him before because he was half transparent, like the dead. Until he moved, he blended in with whatever was behind it. Only his eyes and teeth looked solid, and he was staring right at us.

"Do not worry, he will not harm you, he is only anxious. He hasn't gotten to play for almost a hundred years." Thanatos said with a rather grim smile on his lips.

The dead walked right under him with absolutely no fear. And why should they? They could not die a second time. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of him, but the EZ DEATH spirits walked right between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without crouching.

We passed unhalted around the giant three-headed Rottweiler. We walked through the metal detectors and they went of screeching. Thanatos flashed some sort of pass to the guards, and they turned off the alarm. I rubbed at my ears to dispel the lingering ring the alarms caused.

As we walked, death spoke to us. "You know, I should thank you."

"For what?" I asked curiously

"For coming, I suppose. It's been eons since I've had a break."

Then Annabeth spoke up. "Um, pardon me for asking, but…who's doing your duties while you're off?"

"Hmm, a good question. I don't know_ who, _specifically, but I do know they couldn't do it for long term. Too much to handle you see." He said. "Famine, disease, war, genocide; mortals are more than quite capable of killing themselves in droves. It makes my hours terribly long. But I guess someone has to do it, and I've got plenty of experience."

We passed the rest of our time in silence, not wanting to add any more gloom to our journey through death's rather morbid conversation topics. (Pun not intended)

We passed through the Asphodel fields.

Try to imagine that a very, very popular band decided to host a concert in the middle of nowhere, like a Kansas wheat field. Then, imagine the lights go out and they're having technical difficulties. There's no beach ball bouncing around, no cheers or boo's, just a silent audience shuffling around and talking quietly. That would sum it up pretty well, but imagine that spread out farther than the horizon and you'd be closer.

It seemed that distance was very different in the underworld. We walked for hours, but hardly seemed to go anywhere.

In the distance to our left, we saw a tent-like structure that lines of spirits were filing into. There was a banner over it reading:

JUDGMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATON

Welcome, Newly Deceased!

Out of the back came two much smaller lines.

The one leading left went to fiery glow, and I could hear echoing screams and shouts even though it was so far away. There was no doubt in my mind what that place was. The Fields of Punishment. I was glad we were so far away from the literal hell; I don't think I could handle seeing any of the more gruesome punishments. But even from this distance I could see a steep hill and a round boulder being slowly pushed up it. That must have been Sisyphus.

The line going to the right had a much better destination. This one led to a sectioned off area that appeared to be about the same size as The Fields of Punishment, if not slightly smaller. Beyond the security gate were neighborhoods of beautiful houses from every time period in history: Roman villas, medieval castles, Victorian mansions, there was even a small, modern slice of suburbia. The walls were pristine, the grass was green and lush (verses Asphodel's trampled black), and the smell of barbecue drifted over to us on a pleasant breeze.

Elysium.

In the middle of a valley inside was a glittering blue lake, with three small islands like a vacation resort in the Bahamas. The Isles of the Blest, for people who had chosen to be reborn three times, and each time achieved Elysium. Obviously, if I died, I wanted to go there. You'd be crazy if you didn't.

We passed the judgment pavilion and moved deeper into the Asphodel fields. It got darker, the colors of our clothes seemed to fade away, and the crowds of spirits began to thin. After a few more hours we began to hear a familiar screeching. Looming in the horizon was a palace of shining black obsidian. Above the parapets swirled three black creatures: the furies.

Thanatos stopped and turned to us. "You must continue forward from here without me, my duties beckon me back." he said. "Do not delay too long; it is not wise for the living to linger in the realm of the dead." Then the shadows shifted, engulfing him, and he was gone.

"I suppose it's too late to go back," whispered Grover, wistfully.

"We'll be okay." I did my best to send Grover calming feelings, even if I didn't feel very calm myself.

All of a sudden Grover yelped. His sneakers sprouted wings and his legs shot forward. He landed flat on his back in the grass.

"Come on Grover," said Annabeth. "Stop messing around."

"But I didn't-"

He yelped again. His shoes were going wild now, and they levitated off the ground, dragging him away from us.

"_Maia!" _he yelled, but the magic word no longer affected shoes. "_Maia_, already, darn it! Nine-one-one! Help!"

As soon got over being stunned I chased after him, but I was too late to grab him. The shoes had a lead on me, and were gaining speed as they went downhill.

Annabeth shouted, "Untie the shoes!"

But that was easier said than done when your shoes are pulling you along feet first at full speed. Grover did his best to sit up, but he just couldn't reach the laces.

We kept after him, trying to keep him in sight as he zipped along just above ground level.

For a moment it looked like Grover was going to barrel into Hades' palace, but his shoes veered sharply to the right and dragged him in the opposite direction.

The slope got steeper, and Grover picked up speed. Annabeth and I were sprinting to keep up. The cavern walls narrowed on either side, and I realized we were in some kind of tunnel. There was no longer grass under our feet, just rock and gravel.

"Grover!" I yelled, my voice echoing. "Hold on to something! Anything at all!"

He began to claw at the gravel, and creating as much friction as he could. He slowed down enough for me to get closer, but not enough to catch him.

The tunnel grew darker and colder. I sensed a lot of evil down here, and it made my stomach uneasy.

Then I saw what was ahead of us, and I stumbled. The tunnel widened into a huge dark cavern, and in the middle was a chasm the size of a city block.

But I pushed myself forward. I wouldn't let Grover fall into that pit; I just couldn't let it happen. Not after all we've been through.

He was yelling, clawing at the ground, but his winged shoes kept dragging him toward the pit.

I leaped, and landed on top of Grover. The extra weight was too much for the shoes to handle. The shoes had always been a lose fit on him, and finally they slipped off. They fluttered a bit, before rounding on me and kicking me in the head in protest. They flew over the center of the chasm before they dropped like a rock.

I rolled off Grover to let him breathe, while Annabeth collapsed from exhaustion. My limbs felt like lead. Even the backpack felt like someone dropped a ten pound dumbbell in it.

Grover was scratched up pretty bad. His hands were bleeding, and his eyes had gone slit-pupiled.

Suddenly I felt the lingering evil become in raged, making get up; ready to run, in spite of my muscles protests.

I heard a feint whisper, filled with malevolence.

"We gotta go guys." I said warily.

"What? Why?" asked Annabeth.

The whisper became louder, now more of a muttering, and it was getting louder.

"Come on!" I pulled Grover to his feet as Annabeth scrabbled to get up. We started back up the tunnel, and my backpack was weighing me down. The voice got louder and angrier behind us, and we broke into a run.

Not a moment too soon.

A cold blast of wind tugged at our backs, as if the entire pit was inhaling. For terrifying moment, I lost ground, and my feet slipped on the gravel. If we'd of been any closer, we would have been pulled in.

We kept struggling forward, and finally reached the top of the tunnel, where the cavern widened out into the fields of Asphodel. The wind died, and a wail of outrage echoed from deep in the tunnel. The titan king was not happy we'd gotten away.

"Let's keep going" I looked at Grover "Can you walk?"

He swallowed. "Yeah, sure. I never liked those shoes anyway."

**/Line Break/**

**Hi!**

**Wow, it's hard to believe I've come so far, and I'm only on the first book!**

**Alright, so, if you didn't notice, I made the underworld larger. I mean, it has to be large; tons of people die every second! Not to mention the trillions of souls that are already there.**

**So yeah, I decided to let death escort them a little bit, just for fun. I'm not sure if I'll do a Heroes of Olympus series, or if I'll just find a way to meld the two together in somehow. Like maybe have Kenna find some romans on a quest. I already planned on Kenna having a different summer than Percy, so it wouldn't be too hard to pull off. But don't worry too much; I'll still have Tyson the friendly Cyclops.**

**Really, I love all of you guys. Your continued support is heartwarming.**

**I hope I've found my writing grove again, but classes, especially math, are going to start to be tougher. I'll try to write at least bits of chapters when I can, but you never know what will happen.**

**A special word for my reviewers, I've decided to start recommend some stories, and the first one I'm suggesting is **_The Half-Blood Couple Reads_**, by McAwesome007. It's one of the few good reading-the-books that I've found, so check it out.**

**Have a nice day!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

**All content within this story is based on the works of Rick Riordan. There are sections in this story that are taken almost verbatim from his work. I own none of this; he has the copyright to Percy and the gang (or did he sell that? I'm not sure). I make no money from this, nor do I seek credit for other peoples work, I merely play around with it for my (and for my dear readers) enjoyment.**

_**Thanks to all my readers, guests and authors/editors alike. You are the reason I keep writing.**_

_**I'm sorry about the little mistake I made on Poseidon. I thought I had edited that out, but apparently not. but it's fixed now**_

_Last time on FotW:_

"_Come on!" I pulled Grover to his feet as Annabeth scrambled to get up. We started back up the tunnel, and my backpack was weighing me down. The voice got louder and angrier behind us, and we broke into a run._

_Not a moment too soon._

_A cold blast of wind tugged at our backs, as if the entire pit was inhaling. For terrifying moment, I lost ground, and my feet slipped on the gravel. If we'd of been any closer, we would have been pulled in._

_We kept struggling forward, and finally reached the top of the tunnel, where the cavern widened out into the fields of Asphodel. The wind died, and a wail of outrage echoed from deep in the tunnel. The titan king was not happy we'd gotten away._

"_Let's keep going" I looked at Grover "Can you walk?"_

_He swallowed. "Yeah, sure. I never liked those shoes anyway."_

**/Olympus/**

There was a solid knock at the door, interrupting Hestia's vigil for her daughter.

Curious as to why Poseidon, as only he visited, chose to interrupt now, she went to the door. It was especially strange since it was only a few more hours before the day of the solstice would be upon them.

As expected, it was Poseidon. He gave a pleasant and lopsided smile full of warmth, despite the grim situation.

"Hello, Lady Hestia." he said with a slight bow.

Hestia shook her head with a slight giggle passing her lips. "Come now, brother, I am not so high and mighty as Zeus, we do not bow to each other; we're family after all."

The smile remained on his face. "And what great a family we have; yelling, shouting insults, in-fighting."

She slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "If I've told you once, I've told you a billion times, all families are different. Being immortal just makes ours more…eccentric, than others."

"May I join you? If only for a short time; Zeus wants a stare-down in the council chambers in a few hours."

"Of course. Please, come in. I find myself lacking in good company recently, so you'll have to do." She said as she turned around, walking back to her couch.

"Hey!" he cried in a mock hurt voice.

In a few moments they were seated, watching the viewing flames that rested in the Hearth.

They watched as Kenna conversed with the Nereid.

"_They honor Lord Poseidon though they do not serve his court."_

"_And…you serve in Poseidon's court?"_

_She nodded. "Indeed, it is not often that Poseidon gifts one with power over water."_

"You what?!" asked Hestia in surprise

Poseidon gulped nervously. "It's true. I have granted her the gift."

"And when did this happen?" she asked sternly. She had only told him a few hours after she had signed the permission slip for her to go to sea world. Unfortunately, it was not enough to keep octopus from latching onto Kenna's leg when her class fell in.

"Not long after she was born." Hestia's eyes widened in shock, but Poseidon pushed on, not wanting to be yelled at. "Hestia, do you remember when we were young, before your oath and before I met Amphitrite?"

She took a moment and thought back to eons past.

They were all much closer then the six of them. Zeus and Hera were close, Hades and Demeter squabbled much like they had when they were still in _his_ stomach, and she and Poseidon got along well with everyone, but especially each other.

In fact Poseidon had proposed to her (although back then it was done very differently). He made all sorts of promises and offers, but she told him no. It was the last one that had been the hardest to resist, but the young heart of the west, which she was only beginning to listen to, had said she could not.

And so she had made her vow. It was very carefully worded, to ensure that when the time was right, she could do as required and be happy with her choice.

"I promised you, that any child of your blood would have no need to fear the cold water would extinguish their flame." He interrupted her reminiscing. "When Kenna was born, I kept my oath. While you slept and regained your energy, I blessed her to be connected with the sea. It runs in her blood now, almost as deep as the hearth is."

There was love written clear across his face, a love for Hestia and her daughter. But deep, deep down there was also a longing. It was so deep, that even Hestia, for all her perceptiveness of emotion, did not see. It was a longing of unexplored possibilities, a 'what if?' as it were.

He disappeared in a mist, leaving Hestia to watch her daughter in silence; he could not bear to keep thinking such thoughts. he was happy with Amphitrite, he wouldn't leave her now, especially now with a new child on its way.

**/Kenna/**

They tried to hide it, but I knew they were shaking, just like I was. It was so bad I was very relieved to go see Hades.

The furies were still circling high above the glittering black walls of the palace. The large bronze doors were wide open.

As we got closer, I could make out the engravings on the gates. It depicted various forms of death; there were scenes from both World Wars, famines, massacres, terrorist attacks. They were all terrible, and I knew it would be a long, long time before I forgot them.

Inside the courtyard was one of the most interesting gardens I'd ever seen. There were multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and strange bioluminescent plants that grew without sunlight. Precious jewels had replaced flowers, piles of rubies as big as my fist, clumps of raw diamonds. Standing here and there were Medusa's garden statues- petrified children, satyrs, and centaurs-all smiling grotesquely.

The center of the garden was home to an orchard of pomegranate trees, their orange blooms glowing like neon lights in the dark. "The garden of Persephone," Annabeth said. "Keep walking."

It was easy to understand why she wanted to go. The tart, citrusy smell of those pomegranates was very appetizing. I had the sudden desire to eat some, at least one juicy fruit, but then I remembered Persephone's story. One bite of underworld food, and we'd never be able to leave. I pulled Grover away to keep him from chomping into one.

We walked up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a black marble portico, and into the house of Hades. The entry hall had a polished bronze door that seemed to boil in the torchlights. There was no ceiling, just the cavern roof, far above us. I guess they never had to worry about the weather down here.

On either side of us there were skeleton guards standing next to doorways. Some wore Greek and Roman armor, some were British redcoats, and others looked like soldiers from the Vietnam era. None of them stopped us or anything, but their hollow eye sockets followed us as we walked down the hall, toward the big set of doors at the opposite end.

Two U.S. marine skeletons guarded the doors. Their skeletal faces smiling down on us, grenade launchers crossed over their chests.

"You know," Grover mumbled, "I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesmen."

My backpack weighed a ton now. I wanted to open it to figure out why, but it didn't seem like the right time to forage through my backpack.

"We have an appointment with Lord Hades." I told the guards.

When they didn't move, I thought that maybe they couldn't understand me, but a hot wind blew down the corridor and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside.

"I guess that means_ entrez-vous,_" Annabeth said.

The room inside looked just like it did in my dream, except Hades was occupying his throne.

He was the fourth god that I had met, and the first one that struck me immediately as godlike just by looking at him.

He was at least ten feet tall, for one thing, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white; his hair was shoulder length and jet black. He wasn't bulky like Ares, but he radiated power none the less. He leaned in in his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and as dangerous as a panther.

His Aura sent feelings submission, to him. He was the one who should give orders, he knew more than I did (although the fact was that pretty much all gods knew more than you did. They've seen much more during their lives after all), he should be my master. I shook it off me, and found that he wasn't continuously giving off his aura like that. Now it was only giving off those feelings in a more subdued manner. So it was a test then.

I stepped forward, and kneeled. "Lord Hades, I thank you for this opportunity to speak with you." I had practiced what I was going to say, going off of what I had seen in movies involving kings and knights, which unfortunately wasn't much. "My lord, you have been accused for stealing the Master Bolt."

Hades, to my great surprise, just sighed and shifted in his throne. "And I assume it is Poseidon accusing me? Without a doubt Zeus thinks it's him, me, or the two of us together." He turned his gaze on me, specifically. "I would like to…um, apologize. For my previous attacks on you. I was under the assumption that you were one of the sea-god's children."

"Um, thank you?" I said uncertainly. I never expected to get an apology; usually it was the mortals asking forgiveness of a god or goddess.

"You're welcome, now, as for this… troublesome theft. I did not orchestrate it."

"What proof do you have?" asked Annabeth, as respectfully as she could.

He huffed, but did little more. "Daughter of Athena, I should have expected as much. True, we gods can be rather deceitful, but I too have been robbed."

"Your helm?" I ventured my guess.

"Yes, I got distracted by one of Demeter's tirades. Honestly, how she goes on and on and on about her beloved cereals you can't even imagine. She still won't accept that I'm her son-in-law, do you know that? Anyways, I have not told anyone, because I suffer no delusions that someone on Olympus would help. Even now, Hestia, the one god who would aid me, is trapped inside her own palace."

"Do you have any ideas of who has it? Anyone at all?" I asked desperately, hoping I could at least find it.

He was about to say something when he paused. "You have it."

"Wh-what? What do you mean?"

"You, in fact, have the bolt." He said. "Go ahead, check your pack."

A horrible feeling struck me. The weight in the back…no, it couldn't be…could it?

I slung it off my shoulder and unzipped it. Inside was a two-foot-long bronze cylinder, spiked on both ends, and was humming with energy.

Then I got angry. No, I got furious. Ares, that…that, warmongering bastard! He framed me! He gave me the bolt, and then sent me across the country in the opposite direction!

Unnoticed by me, the torches and fireplaces all throughout the palace were going nuts, flaring up and crackling loudly and furiously.

Luckily, I managed to calm myself, sort of. I was still angry, but I just bottled it up so I could redirect it at a certain conniving god of war later. I could feel the fiery rage just beneath my skin, just waiting to come out.

"My… apologizes, milord, I have to leave."

He nodded. "Fine, be off then. I have much business to attend to." He said rising from his throne "And if I may ask a request: if you find my helm for me, I would be in your debt." He walked out of the room, guards following him out.

I looked between Grover and Annabeth. They both looked somewhat confused and angry at the same time, making them look a little constipated.

"Ares." Annabeth spat, "I knew we shouldn't have trusted him."

"Now what?" asked Grover.

"We need to get back to the surface, we can't stay down here." said Annabeth.

"Right," I said, "the pearls." We dug them out of our pockets; the milky white spheres glimmered in the torch light. "Ready? One, two, three!"

We smashed the pearls at our feet, and, for a moment, nothing happened. Then the shattered pieces exploded with a burst of green light and a gust of a salty sea-breeze. I was encased in a milky white sphere, which started to float off the ground.

Annabeth and Grover were right behind me as we sped upwards.

"Look up!" Grover yelled, although it was slightly muffled by the pearls. "We're going to crash!"

Sure enough, we were racing right toward the stalactites, which I figured would pop our bubbles and run us through, painfully.

"How do you control these things?" Annabeth shouted.

We screamed as the bubbles slammed into the ceiling and…Darkness.

For a very brief moment I wondered if we died. But we hadn't, because I could still feel the racing sensation. We were going up, right through solid rock as easily as an air bubble in water. _What belongs to the see will always return to the sea,_ I reminded myself.

For a while I couldn't see anything outside the walls of my sphere, and then my pearl broke through the ocean floor. The two other spheres, Annabeth and Grover, kept pace with me as we soared upward through the water. And-_ka-boom!_

We exploded on the surface, in the middle of Santa Monica bay. I grabbed Grover and hauled him over to a life buoy. I caught Annabeth and dragged her over too.

Somehow, I knew what time it was: early morning, June 21st, the day of the summer solstice.

I had to get to shore, I had to get Zeus's thunderbolt back to Olympus, and most important of all, I had to turn a certain war god's most precious asset to ash.

**/Line Break/**

**Hi!**

**So, next chapter is the boss level fight. No seriously, think about it. There's always a massive fight with the bad guy at the end of the book. In the first one it was Ares, the second book was Luke, in the third it was Atlas, and the last two were big battles. Does anyone else see the pattern?**

**There were people asking if I decided on a pairing for Kenna, let me say this; she will probably start to have some sort of romantic relationships in the third book, but that will probably not be the final pairing. After all, first girl/boyfriends hardly ever become steady relationships, although it does happen. I'll try and be realistic about it as best I can but I've never written romance before. Heck, this is the first time I've written a continuous story anywhere near this long.**

**And now, my chapter-ly recommendation: This person hasn't written much of this story yet, but is starting out strong. **_Running In Place,_** by ****Persia Jackson**** is looking to be a good read. She also has my favorite Fem!Percy's out there too called, **_Reborn of Fire,_ **which is one of my inspirations for this fic, although there really isn't too much similar with my story. Actually, she has a lot of good Fem!Percy fics, so check them out!**

**Have a nice day!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

**All content within this story is based on the works of Rick Riordan. There are sections that are taken almost verbatim from his works. I claim no ownership of this. Do not I seek credit for any of his work. I make no money from this. I merely play with his ideas and concepts for entertainment.**

_**Thank you to all my readers, your support is much appreciated.**_

_Last time on FotW:_

_We exploded on the surface, in the middle of Santa Monica bay. I Grabbed Grover and hauled him over to a life buoy. I caught Annabeth and dragged her over too._

_Somehow I knew what time it was: early morning, June 21__st__, the day of the summer solstice._

_I had to get to shore, I had to get Zeus's thunderbolt back to Olympus, and most important of all, I had to turn a certain war god's most precious asset to ash._

**/Line Break/**

A boat came along and picked us up, but they decided to get rid of us ASAP so they could go back to wakeboarding or whatever.

They dropped us off at the pier with some spare towels and a water bottle, before speeding of to who-knows-where.

Our clothes were wet, even mine. When the boat had appeared, I'd willed myself to be wet, so I wouldn't draw too much attention. I was also barefoot, because I'd given Grover my shoes; better to have them wonder why one of us had no shoes than why one had hooves.

After reaching dry land, we stumbled up the beach, watching the city be crowned with a beautiful sunrise (thanks Apollo). I felt like I had just come back from the dead, which we sort of had. My backpack was heavy with the master bolt, which had made it very hard to keep afloat, even with the buoy.

"All that way," Annabeth said "for nothing."

"That's not true, we did find the bolt."

"And we had it since all the way back in Denver!"

"The prophecy was right." Grover muttered, drawing our attention. He spoke a little louder. "Remember? 'You shall go west and face the god who had turned.' But it wasn't Hades; someone else had arranged the theft."

We were interrupted by loud, slow clapping. We looked to the source and saw Ares waiting for us. He was in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His bike rumbled beside him, its headlight turning the sand red.

"Congrats kid, you made it out of the underworld alive," he said mockingly. "But you were supposed to die."

"Who did you have steal the bolt? Clarisse? Jessie?"

Ares grinned. "Well now, that would be telling, wouldn't it? No, it wasn't any of my kids, doesn't really matter anyways, because right now, you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the underworld. Then Hestia will be outraged, and Poseidon will have lost his little ace in the hole. Hades would have the bolt, and Zeus will be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this…"

From his pocket he took out a ski cap- the kind bank robbers' wear- and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helm.

"The helm of darkness." Grover gasped

"Exactly," Ares said. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, 'cause he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going."

"But they're your Family!" I protested

Ares shrugged. "That's the best kind of war, always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight I always say."

"You gave us the backpack back in Denver," Annabeth said. "The master bolt was in there the whole time."

"Yes and no," Ares said. "It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword of yours, kid. It always returns to your pocket, right?"

I wasn't sure how he knew about it, but if a war god doesn't know his weapons, what good is he?

"Anyway," Ares continued, "I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the underworld. You get close to hades… bingo, you got mail. And if you died along the way-well, no big deal; I still had the weapons, the war is still on.

"But why do all that to keep it hidden? Why not keep it for yourself? It certainly would have been easier." I asked

He got a twitch in his jaw. For a moment, it was almost as if he was listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "Why didn't I…yeah…with that kind of power…"

He held his trance for a second…two…

I exchanged a worried look with Annabeth. Ares face cleared. "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught red handed, holding the thing."

"Bull." I Said, "It wasn't even your idea was it? You're just a pawn in in someone else's game."

"Of course it was my idea!" smoke drifted up from behind his sunglasses.

"You didn't order the theft. Someone else sent the thief, then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something, or someone, convinced you to let him go.

You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. You're being ordered around by the titan king."

"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"

I hesitated. "What dreams?"

Ares was agitated, you could just see it in his face, in his stance, but he tried to cover it with a smirk.

"Let's get back to the topic at hand, kid. You're still alive. I can't have you take that bolt back to Olympus; one of those hotheaded idiots might listen to you. So you get to die here. Nothing personal."

He snapped his fingers and the sand exploded at his feet. Out of the sand charged a wild boar, even larger and uglier, if it was even possible, than the one that hung on cabin seven's doorway. The beast pawed the sand, glaring at me with the beady eyes as its razor sharp tusks waited to skewer me.

Then I did the stupidest thing I ever thought of doing so far in my short life.

I'm not entirely sure why I did it, maybe it was Ares aura affecting me subconsciously, or maybe the rage I had felt down in the underworld hadn't completely dissipated like I thought it had.

I stepped back into the tide, drawing out my sword. "Fight me yourself, Ares."

He laughed, but there was uneasiness edging it. "You think you can take me? You're a pacifist, just like your mother. You don't have it in you."

"Too scared to fight a little girl?"

"In your adolescent dreams." His sunglasses were beginning to melt from the heat of his eyes. "No direct involvement. Sorry kid, you not at my level."

"Try me."

The giant boar charged

Time seemed to slow as the boar got closer. I channeled my fire and had it wreath around my sword. When the boar was close enough I sidestepped and swung upward, slicing through the boar's windpipe.

The thing panicked, and started thrashing about as it slowly died, before exploding into sand.

I turned back to Ares. "Are you going to fight now?" I taunted, "Because I can do this all day."

Ares face was a nice purple color now. "Watch it, kid. I could turn you into-"

"A newt," I said. "Or cockroach, yeah, I'm sure you can. It'd save you the humiliation of having your godly hide whipped by a girl, wouldn't it?"

The glasses were gone now, melted away, showing the blazing eyes of the war god. "Oh, man. You're really asking for it, punk."

"If I lose, turn me into whatever you want. Take the bolt. If I win the helm and the bolt are mine, and we get to walk away scot free."

Ares growled. "Fine, I swear to your deal by the River Styx." Thunder rumbled loudly on a clear, sunny day. "Just because it won't matter; you can't win against a god."

Then he swung his baseball bat off his shoulder. "How would you like to get smashed kid: classic or modern?"

I waved my sword a little (duh)

"That's cool." He said. "Classic it is then." The baseball bat changed into a huge, two-handed claymore. The hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby clenched in his mouth.

"Kenna," Annabeth said. "Don't do this, he's a god."

"He's an arrogant pig."

She swallowed. "Then wear this, at least, for luck."

She took off her necklace, with her five beads and ring from her father, and tied it around my neck.

I smiled at her gratefully. She was well and truly my friend now, no doubts about it.

"And take this," Grover said. He handed me a flattened tin can that he'd had from the beginning, a thousand miles away. "The satyrs stand behind you, I do at least."

"Grover…I don't know what to say."

He hugged me tight. I stuffed the tin can in my back pocket.

"Are you done saying good-bye yet?" Ares came towards me, his black leather duster trailing behind him, his sword glinting like fire in the sunlight. "I've been fighting for over four thousand years, honey. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?"

_A smaller ego _I thought to myself.

He swung his sword down at me, but I wasn't there. With the added boost of the water my body almost fought for me. I pushed myself into the air and flew over Ares head and slashed at his back. But his sword was there in an instant, deflecting the strike with a clang.

He grinned. "Not bad, not bad."

He slashed and I jumped back onto the sand. Slashed at me again, in the opposite direction and I rolled closer and underneath it.

The thing about two handed weapons, like claymores, was that they were slow and long. You put lots of power into your strikes and have a lot of reach, but to get all that mass moving around took space. If I was close-in he would have a lot more trouble doing anything more than block.

I sent a flurry of quick strikes at Ares, but he blocked them all in short order. I continued to press Ares, trying to keep up the momentum I had going. Ares got frustrated and kicked me in the chest. I went airborne, going twenty, maybe thirty feet. I crashed into a sand dune with a dull thud.

"Kenna!" Annabeth yelled. "Cops!"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the flashing red and blue lights flashing on the boulevard.

"There, officer!" somebody yelled. "See?"

A gruff cop voice: "Looks like that kid on TV…what the heck…"

"That guy's armed," another cop said. "Call for backup."

I rolled to the side as Ares sword slashed the sand.

I jumped up and swiped at his face but he deflected my blade, again.

It was obvious to me that Ares could read my body language very easily, making this whole fight frustrating.

"Admit it, kid," Ares said. "You got no hope. I'm just toying with you."

"Drop the guns! Set them down on the ground. Now!" blared a police megaphone.

Guns?

I looked at Ares's weapon, and there was a white mist hovering over it that I hadn't noticed before. The sword flickered, sometimes looking like a shotgun, sometimes looking like a big honking sword.

Mist

Already I hated the stuff; it hid the godly/monstrous world from the mortal one, and often distorting it for demigods. It seemed hell-bent on making me look like a terrorist or something. I wasn't sure what the mortals saw, but it probably was an adolescent girl pummeling a 'harmless' biker.

Ares turned to glare at our spectators, which gave me a moment to collect myself. There were five police cars now, and a line of officers crouching behind them, pistols trained on us, but mostly on Ares. (Maybe the mist was on my side this time? I hoped so)

"This is a private matter!" Ares bellowed. "Be gone!"

He waved his hand, and a wall of fire rolled over the police cars. The police had barely any chance to recover when their cars exploded. The crowd that had gathered behind them scattered, screaming.

As Ares roared with laughter, caught up in his bloodlust, I drew the fire to me. I don't know what Ares had been thinking, summoning fire around a child of Hestia, but I took advantage of the situation regardless.

The flames swirled around me, and it seemed beautiful from the inside, like the eye of the storm; peaceful, but full of power too. I took a deep breath, and held it. I focused on the flames getting stronger, twisting faster and faster around me. Then I sent it at Ares.

His yells of pain were horrifying, and I allowed the fire to die.

He looked like a mess, covered in charred flesh and blisters, but it began to heal as well. It took only a few moments for Ares to mostly recover, though the new skin was pink and tender looking. He walked towards me, muttering Ancient Greek curses under his breath.

Then I felt a cold, harsh presence fill the beach.

It was as if the sun had been completely covered over, but worse. Light faded. Sound and color drained away. Time slowed, and the temperature dropped to freezing, making me feel life was hopeless, fighting it was useless.

And as quickly as it came, the darkness lifted.

Ares looked stunned.

Police cars were burning behind us. The crowd of spectators had fled. Annabeth and Grover stood on the beach, in shock, watching Ares as he slowly healed.

Ares lowered his sword.

I could see his fiery eyes clearly now, and it was a full of rage and indignation. Pure, absolute, loathing just radiated out of him.

"You have made an enemy demigod," He told me. "Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my-" and he yelled in midsentence, collapsing to the ground in pain.

Simultaneously, a geyser erupted from the beach. When it died down, it left a woman in its place.

She was tall, and radiant. Her dark, silky hair glimmered in the light. She wore light blue dress that flowed from her shoulders to the ground. And when she spoke, her voice seemed to reverberate in my head.

"Ares, son of Zeus. You have broken an oath, made not even an hour ago." her voice was harsh, but not raspy, just angry. "I name you an Oath Breaker, and punish you, as is with in my domain."

Their bodies started to glow.

"Kenna!" Annabeth shouted. "Don't watch!"

I turned away as the two gods turned into their true immortal forms. I knew that if I looked, I would disintegrate into my base elements.

The light died.

Looking back, they were both gone. The tide rolled out to reveal Hades' bronze helm of darkness. I picked it up and walked toward my friends.

Before I even reached them, I heard the flapping of leathery wings. The three furies descended in front of me, Mrs. Dodds at the lead, with the other two at her sides.

For once though, she didn't look threatening; apologetic and disappointed, but not really threatening.

"We saw and heard the whole thing," she hissed. "So … it was the Titan Lord, all this time?"

I tossed her the helmet, which she caught quickly.

"I'm afraid so. Go back to your lord, tell him what you know. I'm sure he'll want to keep a tighter watch on Tartarus from now on," I paused. "And tell Hades I will remember the favor he owes me."

She nodded, sliding a forked tongue over green, leathery lips. "Live well Kenna Pyrrhus, become a true hero. Because if you don't… I won't save you from your mother's rath." She shivered slightly, like she was recalling an old memory

Then she and her sisters rose on their bat's wings, fluttering out of sight.

I joined Grover and Annabeth, who were staring at me with amazement. "Kenna…" Grover said. "That was incredibly…"

"Terrifying?" Annabeth suggested

"Cool!" corrected Grover.

I didn't feel terrified or cool. Just tired and sore, and drained.

I reclaimed my backpack from Grover and looked inside. The master bolt was still in there. It hardly looked like something worth starting world war III over.

"We have to get to New York, tonight." I said.

"That's impossible," Annabeth said, "unless we-"

"Fly." I agreed. She stared at me. "What? Zeus wouldn't blow us up midair when we're bringing the bolt back to him. He can't be that stupid."

Annabeth muttered under her breath so quietly, I almost didn't hear her. "I certainly hope so."

**/Line Break/**

It's kind of funny what people will believe if it's on TV.

According to the L.A. news, the explosion at Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at police. He somehow accidentally hit a leaking gas line that had been rusted too much.

This crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. Ares) was the same man who had abducted me and two other adolescents in New York and brought us across country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.

Poor little Kenna Pyrrhus wasn't an arsonist in training after all. She'd caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from her captor (and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather clad man on the bus-"Why hadn't I remembered him before?"). The crazy man had caused the explosion at the St. Louis Arch. After all, no kid could have done that.

A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her dinner, gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified police. Two truckers had also reported being mugged and robbed of their keys.

Finally, brave little Kenna (I was beginning to like this girl) had stolen a gun from her captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. Police had arrived just in time, but in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed and the captor incinerated. Kenna Pyrrhus and her two friends were now in police custody.

Just like that, I went from potential security threat to a national hero, which was kind of cool.

The reporters pretty much fed us the story, while we acted the part of tired, yet happy to be alive, kids. Which was pretty darn easy.

Eventually, some errand boy showed up. Apparently some philanthropist millionaire decided to let us ride his private plane to New York. That was an interesting experience, riding in a private jet. We only had a little bit of turbulence on the way home, which made me a lot more comfortable. I didn't have to worry as much, and in practically no-time we touched down in La Guardia. The local press was outside but we managed to evade them thanks to Annabeth's handy distractions while wearing the invisible cap.

We only split up at the taxi stand. I told Annabeth and Grover to get back to Half-Blood Hill and let Chiron know what had happened. They protested, and it was hard to let them go after everything we've been through, but it was safer to have me face Zeus by myself. If things went south…I wanted Annabeth and Grover to live to tell the truth.

I hopped in a taxi and headed into Manhattan.

Thirty minutes later, I walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building.

I must have looked like a homeless kid, with my tattered clothes and my dirty face. I hadn't slept for the past twenty-four hours, and it was starting to wear me down.

I went up to the guard at the front desk and said, "Six hundredth floor, please."

He was reading one of the Harry Potter books, I'm not sure which one, but I knew it was probably pretty good. The movies were at least, and the guard didn't even look up at me. "No such floor, kiddo."

"I have an appointment with Zeus." I figured that if it worked for the underworld, it would work here.

He gave me a vacant stare. "Sorry?"

"You heard me."

For a moment, I thought he was just a regular mortal, and that he'd call the closest mental hospital.

"Lord Zeus has canceled all his appointments to day"

"Oh, I think he'll make an exception." I dropped the heavy backpack on the desk, letting the slightly muffled metal _thunk_ sound out clearly. "I'm sure you're familiar with what went missing? I found it."

His eyes went wide. He scrambled for a key card, and then handed it to me. "Insert this in the security slot. Make sure nobody else is in the elevator with you."

I did as he told me. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I slipped the key into the slot. The card disappeared and a new button popped on the console, a red on that had 600 on it. Muzak played. "Raindrops keep falling on my head…" Finally, _ding_, the door slid open. I stepped out and almost had a heart attack.

I was on a stone walkway, which in and of itself wasn't so bad, but it was suspended over a thousand feet in the air! I could see all of Manhattan from the height of an airplane, and the air should have been noticeably thin and hard to breathe, but it wasn't.

In front of me, white marble steps wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky. My eyes followed the stairway to its end, where my brain just went numb.

There, hovering over the city was the peak of a decapitated mountain top, crowned with snow. It was like Mount Olympus was doing its best to make Isaac Newton roll in his grave. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multi leveled palaces. It was a city of mansions, all with white columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires.

Roads wound all around to the peak, where the largest palaces gleamed against the snow. Precariously hanging gardens bloomed with olive trees and rosebushes. I could make out an open-air market filled with colorful tents, a stone amphitheater* built on one side of the mountain, a hippodrome (a horse racing track) and a coliseum* on the other. It was a brand new Ancient Greek city, except cleaner. Sort of like the way I imagine Athens once looked like back in the day.

My trip through Olympus was a daze. I passed some giggling wood nymphs who threw olives at me from their garden. Hawkers on the market offered to sell me ambrosia-on-a-stick (why is everything on a stick?), a new shield, and a genuine glitter-weave replica of the Golden Fleece (how can a replica be genuine?), as seen on Hephaestus-TV. The nine muses were tuning their instruments for a concert in the park while a small crowd gathered-satyrs and naiads and a bunch of good looking teenagers who must have been minor gods and goddesses. Nobody seemed outwardly worried about the potential end of civilization. But then again, there were more houses than there were people from what I could see, so maybe they had left just to be safe.

I climbed the main road, towards the biggest building at the top. It looked like the exact replica of Hades' palace, but where Hades' had been black and bronze, this one was white and silver.

I realized that Hades must've built his to resemble this one. He wasn't welcome here 364 days out of the year, on the winter solstice. So in spite, he built his own Olympus underground. It seemed completely unfair, and also unfounded. Poseidon had a palace in the ocean, but he was allowed here all the time, and I'm sure all of the other gods had palaces off Olympus as well (except maybe Artemis, she probably was always on the move).

Steps led up to a central courtyard, and past that, the council room.

Actually,_ room _wasn't a good enough word; it didn't express how simply _massive _it was. The place made Grand Central Station look like a broom closet. Enormous columns held up a domed roof, which was gilded with moving constellations.

There were twelve thrones, built for people ten feet tall or larger, and arranged in the same upside down U shape as the cabins at camp. An enormous hearth sat in the exact middle of the room; my mother's hearth. The flames she said she made me of, I felt its pull on me. It was like it was calling me home, which was very strange, but I ignored it for now.

There were only two thrones occupied, the head throne on the right, and the one to its immediate left. I didn't have to be told who the gods were, waiting for my approach. I came toward them, my legs feeling shaky.

Both of them were in giant form, as Hades had been, but both of them were projecting so much power that my skin started tingling as I got closer. Zeus, Lord of the sky and king of the gods, wore a dark blue pinstriped suit. He sat in a throne of solid platinum (with golden seat cushions from what I could see). He had a well-trimmed beard, marbled grey and black like a storm cloud. His face was proud hansom and grim, his eyes were a rainy grey.

As I got even closer, the air started smelling like ozone.

The god sitting next to him was his brother, without a doubt, but he was dressed very differently. He looked like a beach comber from Key West. He wore leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it. His skin was deeply tanned, and his hands scarred and calloused like an old fisherman's. Hair was a dark black, maybe a shade or two lighter than Hades. His eyes were a mesmerizing sea-green, and surrounded by sun-crinkles that showed he smiled a lot.

His throne was a deep-sea fishing chair. It was the simple swiveling kind, with a black leather seat and built-in holster for a fishing pole. Only instead of a pole, the holster held a bronze trident, flickering with green light around the tips.

The gods weren't moving or speaking, but the tension in the air suggested that it wasn't long after an argument had ended. I approached the platinum throne. "My Lords." I said, kneeling.

**/Line Break/**

***technically speaking, a coliseum is an amphitheater. The Coliseum in Rome's real name is the Flavian Amphitheater, but was referred to as the 'coliseum' because of the bronze colossus that once stood in front of it.**

**/Line Break/**

**Hi!**

**Sorry for the confusion yesterday. I had planned on posting this chapter, but decided to just remove and replace the previous chapter after editing it.**

**I'm super sorry for the cliffy, but I need more time to plan out the discussion, as it will be very different from the book.**

**I start my PSAT's tomorrow, so it might be a while till I can post something. That is why this chapter is 4k+ words rather than 2k+ words. Consider yourself spoiled.**

**Thank you to all of you who made suggestions. I tried to incorporate at least some of your ideas into mine and Rick's own, although to be honest, I had to leave some by the wayside. It is my own story after all, and I make the final decisions on where this goes, but your input does help me a lot.**

**I have a semi-lose idea on where I want to take Kenna, and eventually, it will be a crossover. Don't get too anxious though, it's going to be a few **_**books **_**before I get there; I need to build back story, hence this first series with Kenna.**

**If you can guess what I'm going to crossover with, I'll let you pick the name of the next book. Just send your guess and your book name via review or PM (although PM's are preferred)**

**My recommendation this time is **_**Son of the Sea God **_**by Sassenach082. It is a very emotion filled story of how Percy could have been raised. It's not really angst-y at all, but there are some sad parts to it. The updates are slow, but well worth the wait. The writing quality is very top notch.**

**Have a nice day!**


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